Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Altered Stardust
by GNY-002 Gundam Sadalsuud
Summary: Before the Battle of A Baoa Qu, Amuro received what he was intended to have, the Gundam Alex and met a new friend in the form of Christina Mackenzie. General Revil escaped his intended fate as his ship experienced a malfunction and avoiding his demise by the Solar Ray. Kycilia escaped and saved what she could as the climactic battle between the Zeon and the Federation raged on.
1. Chapter 1

If you're reading this thank you for taking the time to open this humble side project story of mine. Hope you like it. :D

05/20/19: I edited some obvious mistakes that I've missed.

* * *

Amuro took a deep breath before the large double doors before him. Glancing at the two unmoving soldiers guarding the door, he swallowed heavily. He could feel the calm presence of the man behind the imposing door. For the man himself to directly contact him and ordering them to go to Jaburo on the double was surprising, but the only thing on his mind was what the purpose of this meeting was.

He hadn't seen the man since the awarding ceremony a month after the war and when they were directly promoted then assigned to be one of the Mobile Suit trainers for the new recruits and an MS squad leader on Cheyenne.

_No,_ he shook his head correcting himself, the last time they saw the Admiral was after _Operation Hellstorm_. That was one heck of an op that would greatly resupply the Zeon remnants on Earth if they didn't destroy that base.

He resisted the urge to look back and did his best to block the negative feelings that came from all around him. Those of low ranks didn't avoid him, with the occasional awkwardness and fear of him. It was mostly the high ranking officers that steered clear of him. His gut says it had anything to do with his rumored _abilities_.

Sighing lowly, he was used to it by now.

Ever since he was subjected to the research of the Newtype scientists, his senses became more honed, especially with dealing with negative emotions and intent. He hated knowing things without the others, aside from Sayla, knowing. That was one of the reasons why the scientists and some officers on Cheyenne were wary of him ever since rumors of his Newtype abilities were known.

_Thank God for the Team for being understanding to me._

He shuddered every time he was subjected to test under the scrutiny of the Augusta Lab scientists. Breathing deeply, he focused on the fact that at least the pay was good enough to sustain him from both being an EFF Officer and as a Test subject. Aside from the money he had from selling Haro Toys, all the money he earned on those two jobs helped in mentally rehabilitating his dad. Not to mention send some money to his mom, albeit in a different name, despite their tense relations.

Knocking the thoughts of his mom, he focused on where they were now.

He was used to tension on meeting superior officers being part of the EFSF for about five years now, but still the nervousness won't completely subside especially with his extra senses always detecting emotions. The only comfort that he had was that Chris and Sayla was with him, with both hiding their tension easily than he could.

Glancing left and right, the two nodded firmly and he cleared his throat. Clenching his fist and loosening them, he knocked on the door. "Lieutenant Ray, Mass, and Mackenzie, Admiral Revil, sir."

They didn't have to wait long before the Admiral replied. "Enter," the Earth Federation Forces' Commander-in-Chief's gruff voice ordered. They saluted the man quickly as soon as they entered.

The older man stood up with hands on his back and faced the window overlooking most of Jaburo. They stood waiting before the table and waited for superior officer to say something first. No need to bring trouble to them more with most officers hating him and Sayla. It was only because of Admiral Revil's grace that he and Sayla were allowed to stay together and stationed at a base out of most prying eyes.

"Have a seat," the old man ordered, and they did so with their Federation leader following suit. "You may wonder why I called the three of you here," he said eyeing them neutrally hands covering his lower face.

He winced at the intense paranoia that the older man felt. The admiral's mind felt close yet open that he felt a slight connection tugging him along. "Officially, I called you back here to be temporarily reassigned to the Albion to help choose the pilots of GP Units 01 and 02 in Torrington base in Australia."

"GP Units?" Sayla asked what was on their mind.

"Gundam Project Units," Admiral Revil clarified. "A secret Mobile suit project we assigned to the Anaheim Electronics to make as a concept bed prototypes for the next generation units."

He didn't know much of the company, but from what he knew of Anaheim Electronics was that it's a civilian company that made most of the things they used. It was known that after the war that they absorbed the Zeonic and Zimmad Company along with their assets and employees. In hindsight, it would make perfect sense for them to employ the company with their workers experienced in Mobile suit engineering regardless of their civilian status.

"The truth is," he as he opened the drawer and showed them a thick folder labelled as _Gundam Development Project. _The folder had a red stamp that says _S-class classified file. _"Aside from the Gundams you have been using to gather data for the next generation of Mobile suits as part of the _Federal Forces Reconstruction Plan_. Another project is the _Gundam Development Project_, headed by Vice-Admiral Kowen and given to Anaheim Electronics, is part of it. If the unit testing is deemed successful, the Federation will use the concepts used by the GP units on the newer MS we will be rolling out."

He then pushed out the folder towards them and he received it. The folder felt heavy in his hands, that was not counting the stacks of paper it has. Why it felt heavy, he didn't know, but it just was.

"Unofficially," he leaned forward, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I want you to protect the two units as it undergoes testing."

_Protect?_

Licking his lips discreetly, he replied, "protect, sir?"

Admiral Revil firmly nodded. "Throughout the One Year War, Zeon had attempted many times to steal one of our Gundams. With Zeon sympathizers still lurking about, even in Anaheim, we can't let ourselves be too lax about this."

The first was a General Purpose Mobile Suit dubbed as "Zephyranthes" with the purpose of being adaptable. Though, unlike their Gundam's, it needed to be reconfigured first before used in a specified environment. It used a core fighter based on the original Gundam and is equipped with a rifle that used "E-pac" technology, an ammunition type but only this time contains energy for the rifle instead of bullets. The more he read about the concept the more he was interested in it. All in all the MS itself looked similar to their units, or any Gundam unit for that matter, with even the color scheme matching theirs.

The second unit made his body going cold and gape at it in an unsuppressed shock. The paper's weight seemed to have gotten heavy on his finger as he flipped through its pages.

The Gundam "Physalis" as it was called. A Tactical Nuclear Mobile Suit equipped with a Nuclear bazooka. Equipped with a large and thick enough shield to defend against beams and physical attacks. Not only that, it helps in protecting the unit from a nuclear explosion along with its armor. Despite its bulky appearance, the file stated that its speed was comparable to a Dom thanks to its powerful reactor and large shoulder binders that could also act as extra limbs in space increasing its AMBAC ability.

Aside from that, it had a missile launcher variation that used a beam bazooka as its ranged weapon.

Forcing himself to ignore the large red flag that Unit 02 will have, he looked at the two Gundam's data and saw that it slightly had greater performance than the units the three of them had. The two units were planned to be used in conjunction like the Gundam Unit 04 and 05 was. One of the perks he had as the son of former Federation MS Project head he gets to know some things he shouldn't, he thought.

"Sir, this is," he stumbled saying as he gave the file to Chris with shaking hands.

Why did they need a nuclear-equipped MS? The war was over. They only need to deal with Zeon remnants to stabilize the situation. If word of this Gundam gets out, then the public backlash, especially from the colonists like Side 3, against the Federation would be massive and support for the Zeon rebellion would grow far stronger.

Admiral Revil sighed, "I know what you are going to say. Though I was against this in fear of public backlash, the admiralty board outnumbered those opposed in the creation of this. I advise the Vice-Admiral in suggesting against this, but he was adamant of it. Though to cover up the Physalis, we had the designation of it as Nuclear capable as GP02B, a variant of it, and the MLRS as its main weapons."

Amuro doubted that would stop any backlash from the colonist and any Spacenoids if they ever found out about it. What if the Zeon remnants got wind of Physalis' existence?

Sayla's distress rippling can be felt by him. He felt the same as her when he read the potential destruction of Physalis when wielded by the wrong hands.

"Protection? Protect it from what, Admiral?" Chris asked, revealing nothing of what she thought. Even he cannot ascertain what she thought of their orders.

"Yes, protect," he repeated. "I say so because post One Year War, despite winning the war, the Zeon still persists in its rebellion. It could be seen in 0081 with the Zeon's _Tears of Varuna _and other various operations done by the remnants. I cannot remain overconfident that the Federation can keep the remnants in check all the time."

Amuro had to concede to Admiral Revil's point that the Zeon remnants on both Earth and Space were still going strong despite them being at a disadvantage by many factors. They still insist on fighting. That wasn't counting on Kycilia Zabi's escape. To where, he didn't know, but what he did know was that she did so while the Federation Fleet was in the middle pushing back the remaining forces on A Baoa Qu. Zeon remnants still had a leader they could really behind.

The news of that Zeon operation had reached them in the base. _Tears of Varuna_ as it was called, an operation by Zeon remnants to use the Federation controlled Lunar Mass Driver so that they could attack the Earth. Not much was known about what exactly happened, but it was stop thanks to the efforts of the Phantom Sweepers.

Scowling for a second that one might've thought it was a just a trick of their eye, the Admiral paused then continued as he leaned forward deepening the shadows on his eyes. "Though the other officials may be confident that the Earth Federation can handle any threats that Zeon has left, I on the other hand cannot afford to be that lax as the commander-in-chief. If Zeon has shown us something, it is that they are adamant and determined that even with smaller force they are enemies to be reckoned with."

"The Zeons are terribly good in hiding, and I suspect that some people here on Earth and Space are hiding them."

"If that is the case sir," the blonde began, "how come the Federation did not make hunting down the remnants on Earth a priority."

Admiral Revil shook his head negatively, "an easy task to say, but harder to do. This may not be evident, but after the war, we needed time to reorganize the Federation since we had suffered a lot of casualties, especially during Operation Star One and Cembalo. Not only that, with Kycilia escaping during our assault on A Baoa Qu with most of her forces intact, we can't spare much in pursuing them while we have Zeon hiding on our backyard. The only thing we can do for now is patrol and root out any Zeon hideouts while we recover."

"So, the Federation can't find them all," Sayla stated thoughtfully. "Searching every nook and cranny of Earth and Space would leave the Federation spreading the forces thin."

"Precisely." The Admiral narrowed his eyes.

Glancing at Sayla, he could feel her worry emanating. He let out calming feelings for her in hopes that she would _feel_ it.

"Thus the Reconstruction plan was agreed upon," Sayla said, getting to the point. "To prepare in case Zeon ever returns." The got a nod from the Admiral himself.

"In case when Zeon returns."

"Permission to speak freely, sir," the redhead said.

The Admiral nodded in giving her consent.

"But sir," Chris said objecting, "Surely there are others who could do this? You don't mean to tell us that you called us all the way from Cheyenne for this?"

"There might be," he paused then continued after a minute, "but for reasons I cannot divulge now, just know that for now I cannot trust them because of them having deep connections on the Federation. You three on the other hand, are not only reliable but are one of the few free from any shackles of having Federation connection."

Amuro had a lot of questions in his mind as to why them specifically, but he can't help but think that something more was happening in the shadows. Something that they, the grunts, were not aware of.

Standing and turning his back from them, the admiral then said, "that is all. You're dismissed. Go to dock 5, the Albion and Captain Synapse will be there waiting for you."

* * *

Amuro couldn't help but be impressed by the ship that was before them. It was unlike the White Base, yet he felt the pang of nostalgia and sadness hit him just observing the ship. Burying those emotions deep down, he focused at the task at hand, which is to enter the ship.

The ship was similar to the White Base in terms of overall design from its color scheme, two forward bow legs, bridge shape, wings, "shield" that hid its particle cannons, and engines. Despite the similarities of the two ships, the Albion was vastly different with its much wider and longer form than the ship he had formerly served on. A double-barreled cannon could be seen below the tip of the MS Deck. The ship had a lot of hidden anti-air weapons littered and hidden all over its hull.

The Albion was in dock and being maintained by numerous people from what he could see.

"Albion, this is Lt. Mackenzie, Ray, and Mass. Requesting permission to dock in Albion," Chris contacted the ship as they approached it.

His Netix having an overall head height of 22 meters thanks to its wire-guided experimental Newtype weapon, Amuro wondered if it would fit in the ship's hangar. Or should he remove it first and carry it to the hangar where he could just lay it beside his suit since he can't use it on the atmosphere.

Sayla's Pixie Kai armed only with one beam machine gun, and two additional sabers aside from its beam daggers. No doubt it'll fit snuggly within the ship's hangar no problem. Chris' RX-78-8th Gundam could fit no problem since she didn't have to worry about fitting large weapons aside from the bazooka behind it. They didn't have big weapons unnecessary on Earth, unlike his unit.

"Permission granted," a woman replied. "Use deck one on the left."

"Say," Amuro said admiring the ship now that they were closer, "do you think the Netix will fit there?"

Sayla chuckled, "I'm sure it would, Amuro. Just make it crouch a little."

Christina followed Sayla and laughed at his dilemma. That didn't give him any confidence at all. Just as he feared, when he neared the portside deck hatch, his large weapons behind were large that his suit can't fit on the entrance unless he crouched. Though the good thing was his worries were unwarranted since the hangar was big enough to have its tip nearly reaching the ceiling of the hangar.

Sighing, Amuro ignored the laughter of the two and lowered his Gundam as he entered the hangar. It took him a few minutes set the MS right next to the Pixie, and what he did was basically made the unit squat to balance the Netix. He reminded himself to remove the weapons later to lessen the additional useless weight of his Gundam since it was useless on Earth.

"C'mon, Amuro. Hurry up," Chris waved at him already out of her unit and waiting for him with Sayla. He could feel the obvious humor that the two felt and opted to ignore it.

"That Gundam is huge," a tall dark-skinned woman with black hair in a maintenance's grey uniform whistled. He only reached her shoulders and had to crane up his neck just to see her friendly expression. "I'm betting those large things behind it are the Newtype weapons. Am I right?"

He smiled somewhat sheepish at her with her towering over him, "yeah," he nodded. "How did you know?"

"We were briefed earlier about your arrival."

Ah, that explained it. "Sorry 'bout the Netix. I knew it wouldn't fit, but not to this degree." And he didn't lie about it. In Cheyenne, the hangar was large enough to house his unit with no problem. Hell, even when they got the order to go to Jaburo they had two Medeas. One for the Pixie Kai and 8th Gundam, the other for his Netix. He must've forgotten that little tidbit.

The weapon was tested through simulation and was considered a successful recreation of Zeon's Psycommu technology, albeit an inferior one. In the field was still not tested and regardless of that, was sent his way despite the fact that he was assigned on Earth. They didn't even bother with field testing it in space first before giving it to him.

"No problem," the woman, grinned who then held out a large hand, then said, "Mora Boscht, Albion's head of maintenance."

Accepting her held hand, Amuro introduced himself, "Lt. Amuro Ray. Those are my companions—"

"Sayla Mass and Christina Mackenzie," she finished pointing at the other two with her thumb. "They already introduced themselves while you were positioning your suit."

"Is that so," he chuckled.

"Mora!" a female excitedly called out. He looked behind her to see a light-skinned blonde woman in a light blue formal suit with a tight long pencil skirt that reached her knees. A logo of Anaheim Electronics was emblazoned on her chest. "Is this the three Gundams assigned to the ship?"

"Yeah," the large woman replied and started pointing at each one from left to right. "That's the Netix, Pixie Kai, and the 08th Gundam. According to the data, all of these were all Federation made, specifically by the Augusta Labs."

Once near, she took a minute to examine the three units. "I see," she may have said that neutrally, but her expression revealed her excitement even without using his extra senses. Turning to him, she shook his hands, "Nina Purpleton, Head Engineer of Gundam Unit 01 and 02 from Anaheim."

"Amuro Ray," he said awkwardly.

She gasped, "_The White Devil?_" Nina's giddiness abruptly burst, and he winced at the name.

He winced and found it lucky the two didn't seem him react to her excited outburst. That name always made him out to sound like a bad guy in children's cartoons.

"I gotta go. Captain Synapse is waiting to debrief us. It's nice meeting you two," he apologized and ran towards his two friends.

"What was that about, Amuro?" Sayla asked.

He shrugged and grabbed her hand as they followed Chris' lead. "She looked interested in the Gundams."

Moving closer to him, Sayla then said, "the ship really feels like the White Base, isn't it."

Chris hummed in agreement. "Considering that this ship looks like it was derived from the Pegasus Class Carrier, I'm not surprised about the similarities."

"It feels so strange," he commented. "It's as if I'm back in time." He winced and fell on one knee.

_There he was in space, dodging shot after shot of the Newtype weapons. He evaded the beams that the large remote Newtype weapons fired. The presence washing over him was gentle, yet fiercely loyal. He continuously moved knowing one hit from those remote weapons were dangerous. _

_ His hand flinches on the controls when the beam rifle exploded._

_ All of these events flashed before him as if watching a film. _

_ A red Gelgoog approached him fast as the Gundam. Deftly grabbing the beam saber, their energy weapons met as both attempted to overpower the other. Their blades clashed as their deadly blade dance continued. _

_ Eventually, Char made a mistake and Amuro cut the red MS's arm. With an angry cry, he thrust the beam forward. _

_ "Captain!" the voice in his head screamed in terror pushing the Gelgoog away. Amuro's rage melted away and his hand which once trembled in anger at himself became still upon realizing what he did. _

_ A flood of consciousness erupted, and he found himself floating in an otherworldly place where everything was colorful and staring at a beautiful dark-skinned girl the same age as him._

"Amuro!" just like a flood has been cleared he found himself gasping and holding his head. He thought he was over that part of his life? _I'm sorry Lalah. I'm really sorry. I would change what I've done if I could. _He could feel the sting on the edge of his eyes. _What more do you want me to do?_

The regret and sadness that filled him that day returned as if the dam he built got destroyed.

Supporting him by grasping his shoulder was a frowning Sayla. "Are you okay?"

Knowing it was useless to lie to Sayla, he shook his head and blinked away the wetness of his eyes. "Just memories."

"Are you sure you don't need rest?" Chris asked as he was pulled up. "I'm sure Captain Synapse would understand if we explain you're not feeling well."

He gently pushed them away and breathed deeply, "I'm fine. I'm fine," he smiled. "Don't worry about me."

The two gave each a dubious look and fortunately let the matter slide. "Just tell me if you're not feeling well, okay?" Sayla pleaded. Her eyes felt like it pierced his soul that he couldn't help but nod.

The walk towards the Captain's office turned quiet, no doubt because of what happened a second ago. Still, with every step, he could see the image from that day go brighter and clearer as if he was living it again and the present was instead the dream.

Chris knocking at the door knocked him out of his reverie. Shaking his head slightly, he heard the redhead woman introduced them.

"Come in," the Captain replied not a second late after the knock.

Captain Synapse, a dark tanned forty-something man with slightly wrinkled skin and whose hair was already graying, sat behind his desk and looked at them expectantly. Saluting at the captain, he saluted back and shook their hands, "I'm Captain Eiphar Synapse," he introduced himself before gesturing for them to sit down.

"We're sorry for being late, sir," Amuro said. "My unit took too long to dock." He hoped Captain Synapse would understand because it looked like he was sterner than any officers with his naturally serious look.

"It's fine," his lips lightly rose into a small smile. "My pleasure to finally meet the "White Devil" and those from the White Base. Your exploits during the One Year War is widely known."

He had lost how many times people had said that they heard of what he and the White Base crew do during the war and impressed by him because of it. Hell, he had seen the propaganda video of him piloting the Gundam against Zakus. Though most of it edited and were computer generated just to boost Federation and Earthnoid morale.

"Just call me Amuro, captain," he stated respectfully as he could feel his cheeks redden. "That's just the name Zeon's gave me."

Captain Synapse chuckled. "With good reason, I might add Lieutenant Ray."

The captain shook his head, "All jokes aside," his expression turned serious. "I have been briefed by the Admiral himself about your mission," Captain Synapse stated all jesting earlier gone and replaced by a grizzled veteran. "I'm of the opinion that is unnecessary because we are testing the units near Torrington base. But the Admiral believes your presence is needed during the Gundam's testing and I for one am not one to object an order."

"Do you think it has something to do with the Zeon attacks the last years?" Sayla asked.

Leaning back on his chair, he put his arms on his crossed leg. "Perhaps," he said plainly. "Or it may just be a necessary precaution set by Admiral Revil himself."

"Regardless of my thoughts, I trust Admiral Revil's judgment on this matter," leaning forward, he put his hands on top of each other and covered his lower face, "I just pray that your purpose would not be needed."

They all knew the threat that the Zeon still posed regardless if they won the war. Just like the Admiral said earlier, what remained of them were still lingering elsewhere, either they already gave up or bidding their time since one of their leaders was still alive somewhere.

"Us too, sir," Amuro replied, sweating slightly as he felt the weight of the Captain's stare. "I hope we may not be needed."

It was too much to take that the Federation was willing to make a Mobile Suit that is capable of launching a nuke. Why? As a show of force or simply because it was hard to deny old habits such as the usage of atomic bombs on warfare? Whatever the answer was, he hated the existence of Physalis.

"In a few hours, we will head to our Torrington base and arrived in about twenty-six hours as scheduled. I suggest you three get some rest, especially you, Lt. Ray," he said that as his eyes flicked over to him for a second and was gone the next as if Captain Synapse didn't look worried about him.

* * *

The ship left Jaburo after two hours, giving him time to reposition his unit correctly to make sure it doesn't topple on their journey to Australia.

After that little debacle, he excused himself to his quarters to rest but found no peace. The image kept replaying again and again on his mind. _Why can't he get over it? _He thought he did. All those years in Cheyenne and he found no problem as it slowly stopped, so why did it begin all over again.

Finding himself unable to sleep despite the fact that he could feel his tired mind and body protesting. He blinked away the bleariness and continued on his way to his destination through the direction given to him by the crew. Turning around the corner, and entering the door, he found himself on the observation deck.

The place had several chairs and was spacious enough for the rest to stand or just sit on the floor. He groaned in satisfaction upon sitting down and leaning on the comfortable chair.

"Lalah," he muttered staring at the ceiling. The sun setting painted the ceiling orange-red, but all he could see was the red that was Lalah's blood that was on his hands.

Even now he recalled their meeting, their fateful meeting on the battlefield, and her demise on his hands. Short as their meeting may had been, their bond was unlike any other he had ever felt. If only they had met under different circumstances, he was sure that the result would be the same as that fateful encounter on that rainy colony day but it wouldn't end with her dying.

"Why." It was all he could say. Why did she had to die? For Char of all people, damn it! Why does she haunt him still? His fist curled that it shook from the effort.

He thought that he was over it. He thought that he was already passed acceptance. But he just knew now that he was not.

He ignored the footsteps getting closer and composed himself hoping that whoever entered won't notice his unease seconds earlier.

"Amuro," he stiffened at Sayla's gentle voice calling him. He didn't move when she sat next to him and took his hands. She said nothing else but just be there be with him and he found himself appreciating her silence. Her warmth also sent a peaceful sort of presence that drove away the uncertainty that coiled within his chest.

"Why," he muttered. His eyes were slowly becoming moist thinking of the burden of the sin he did. "I didn't mean to do it. Yet…" He could feel Sayla's gentle, yet strong finger clasped his tighter. All these years Sayla along with Chris helped him move on from her death. _And they did_, a part of him acknowledged that fact. Yet… _Why do I keep seeing her death?_

"Do you think I could change what I did back then?" He turned to the blond on his left and leaned, his head on her shoulder. _If only..._

All he could hear was their breathing and he found the silence and her release and intake of air soothing.

"I don't know," was her whispered reply as her fingers caressed his. Breathing heavily she lifted their joined hands and pressed it on her cheeks. Her soft kiss didn't make any sound, but it may as well with how he shivered felt her emotions washing over him. Her yearnings, regrets, sadness, and happiness rolling into one wave of jolting expressions. "We can't know because that wasn't what happened. All we can do is move forward and not let the past define our future."

He wondered how she became who she was now knowing her past. He wondered how she became strong to free herself from the shackles of her past knowing who she was; Char's, _no_, Casval Rem Deikun's sister, and youngest daughter of Zeon Zum Deikun.

To be part of a family destroyed by the Zabi's, destroyed by politics and conspiracies. Yet, looking at the woman she was now? It's not very evident at first glance that she had been through many things.

"How did you move on," was his simple reply as he shifted awkwardly to the right as to not lean too much on her.

"It…," she stuttered to say as he detected cracks in her voice, "it… just happened. The pain was there and always has been, but I just keep looking forward on the horizon with my loved ones beside me."

_Perhaps_…, his sin would be with him forever until he dies but maybe, just maybe, he would get past this with them. He would

Shifting awkwardly again, he said nothing and just hummed as a response. Finding his bleary blinking eyes difficult to remain open, his vision was slowly fading. The last thing he heard was the soft humming of an unfamiliar song before the god of dreams took him.

* * *

"It's beautiful," admiration filled Nina's voice looking at the approaching land. It didn't bother the woman that they'd seen nothing but ocean during the duration of their trip. It must be her first time on Earth just like with most of the Anaheim engineers, so her impression was still strong.

Amuro remembered the first time he and his dad left Earth for Side 7. The same excitement must've been what the blonde woman was feeling when he saw space for the first time. For a moment he envied her for it because he had seen what Earth and Space had to offer. From the moment they landed on Earth, the desert, the jungle, the fairly cold weather of Europe, and different colonies like Texas and even debris field. Still, if given time, he'd like to go on vacation in wonderful places he'd never seen. He was sure there were still places on the planet still left unexplored or forgotten by time. Well, even if he had been there, he wouldn't mind going just being a tourist.

"How long till Australia," she asked the navigator since Captain Synapse took a breather an hour ago.

"We're already in Australia, ma'am," The man responded at the same time the door opened.

Light footsteps approached closer and closer to the woman. On his peripherals, the Captain stood next to the woman on the center just mere feet away in front of the Captain's chair. "I forgot that this is your first here on Earth, Miss Purpleton. He's right. We are already in Australia."

"What?" was her puzzled reply.

If it's as he thought, then that would mean that they were in —his eyes went wide in realization. The aftereffect of that day was reported throughout the news and was known by all. Numerous news companies reported on it for weeks to no end.

"Precisely, we are now above Sydney." His CO's head bowed slightly. "Right where the colony fell."

_This is where Operation British fell? _

He couldn't help but gape at the large hole of what used to be Sydney below them. He had heard of the Zeon colony drop from the beginning of the war, but to see it personally left him cold and heavy. Looking at the distance, he thought those tall towers were the remains of the building that somehow survived the drop, but he was now sure it was colony debris.

Discreetly, he turned to the woman where the excitable and formal Nina Purpleton stood in shock.

Captain Synapse with grimness on his voice. "Even years after the war, the scars of Zeon remained."

He numbly nodded at the Captain's statement. Back in Side 7 when they'd known what the Principality of Zeon had done, everyone nearly panicked in fear of Zeon targeting them. It didn't help that any footage shown would be about a glimpse about the aftermath of the Australia colony drop. The television mainly focused on the survivors and refugees of the torn land as the Federation did its best to support them while in the middle of the war. He remembered the endless and futile search for survivors of those around Sydney by the order of the Federation Prime Minister.

The energetic Nina Purpleton's mood dwindled at Captain Synapse's statement. Who wouldn't? As beautiful as the scenery of the ocean before them was, it was a disheartening thought to know what caused it in the first place was the deaths of thousands. It was a sad fact to know that millions of bodies and souls of others lie underneath them.

"Permission to excuse myself, Captain," he turned to the older man and saluted.

A slight frown formed on the man's face as his lips pursed but he nonetheless nodded. As Amuro left the bridge, he could feel the weight of the Captain's emotions. For what he didn't know, all he knew was that Synapse reminded him of Bright in some ways. Maybe a much older Bright Noa.

He left and went towards the hangar where the other two were. As he did so, he was left wondering what were the others doing now.

Sayla and Christina on the two units, inspecting and testing the units with some of the engineers and maintenance crew. Sayla was on Unit 01 and Chris checked on the second unit.

Come to think of it, this was his first time seeing the two units of the Gundam Development Project. The Physalis, despite its bulky design and thus losing a lot of speed and mobility, could compensate thanks to the large thrusters on its shoulders. And its shield where the second part of the bazooka was stored? Holy hell was it large! It was larger than the original Gundam's shield and nearly tall as the unit itself. Not to mention thick enough to ward off several bullets and beams if needed to.

What caught his eye was the bazooka on its back that took most of the space on the back of the unit and the shield it was using. If the bazooka was ever assembled then that would mean its as tall as the unit itself. He found the dirty white hue of it perfect for the unit itself. A thing that could stain the name of the Federation and the many honest good people in it. It was one stain that he thought could possibly be hard to remove.

What he didn't like was the look of the unit's face having an ever menacing expression. It's as if the makers intended on scaring Unit 02's enemies.

He jerked back when the unit lifted its large shield and brought it back down after a moment. "This Gundam can lift the shield with no problem?" An impressed sounding Chris said leaving the unit's cockpit. "Though, I'm surprised they didn't implement the 360-degree panoramic cockpit in the project like when the Federation upgraded the cockpit of my unit," she said to the Anaheim employees.

A lanky tall blue-haired man in an orange mechanic's uniform laughed and said something that he didn't hear.

He went on to Zephyranthes and saw that it was moving in controlled yet basic actions like lifting its arms, foot, and more in what was probably the testing of its hydraulics. A set of armor pieces lie on the unit's side in a neat pile. Does that mean that GP01 uses Chobham Armor just like the Alex?

The Gundam itself, he concluded with one look, was designed to be mobile because it was thinner than its sister unit was. Also because the backpack was larger than any unit he'd seen which meant it can cross great distances in one jump thanks to its thrusters.

_Well__, I doubted any unit would have a large backpack as the Netix considering that it carries large weapons attached on its back,_ he mused for a second.

"Amuro," Mora called approaching him. "What're you doing here?"

He shrugged, "I've seen the Gundams in papers, but this is the first I've seen it personally."

The tall woman hummed in understanding. "So, as an Ace Pilot, what do you think of the Gundams?" he felt his cheeks heat up on the mention of him being an ace but said nothing about that.

He opened his mouth but closed it a second after he thought better of it. Mulling over the woman's question for a minute, he then replied, "they're both great units. No doubt Anaheim with their absorption of Zeon companies, they'd put to use the knowledge of Zeon engineers into great effect in building these. Unit 01 reminds me of the Gundam, but an updated version of it with more concepts put into it. It has greater mobility and speed than the Netix. As for Unit 02," he paused for a minute to gather his thoughts rationally. "I can definitely see the influence of Dom in its design, so I'd say it's much more mobile than my unit too. It probably could match Sayla's Pixie in terms of speed."

His unit was heavily armored but just enough to provide protection that it doesn't give up its mobility. Chris' Gundam was fast, but it was slower compared to the Pixie.

"Now, what do you really think of it."

He turned to Mora to see her looking at him from the edge of her vision with her expression somehow furrowed as creases formed on her forehead. Loosening the collar of his uniform, he wiped the small sweat forming on his head. Geez, Australia was hotter than he thought it would be.

"I get the purpose of the _Project_, and even why they built Unit 01. Unit 02 is great too, but why would they even make a Mobile Suit capable of launching nukes? The war's over. There's no need for it now in peace times. I just don't understand." He said it only loud enough for the woman beside him.

"I get what you're telling," she responded. "Hey you! Yes, you blondie. Get your act together! Even from here I could see that it's not tightened properly!"

He flinched from the volume of her voice as she pointed at one of the maintenance crew who hastened in his job on the Physalis' right arm.

"Why even use a relic of the past, right?" the woman shook her head in clear dismay. "Yeah, I know how destructive the Mobile Suits are, but if you ask me if I have to choose between an MS and a nuke, I'd rather choose an MS than a weapon that does not discriminate." Mora sighed. "Still, it's built now. Not much we can do. All we can do now is hope that after testing its effectiveness the Top Brass will be satisfied with the result and that'll be the end of Physalis or any nuke launching MS for that matter."

Amuro agreed with her all the way on that matter. Idealistic as that may be, that was what he was hoping for with someone sensible like Admiral Revil on top of the Federation.

Shaking himself off the depressing topic, he asked Mora about the specs of the two units and her opinions of the unit's abilities. Throughout the rest of the trip to Torrington, he spent the time observing the testing and maintenance going on whilst talking to her.

* * *

They arrived on the base with no problem, which made Amuro sighed in relief. Torrington base itself was relatively large, maybe nearly a quarter half of Jaburo. Most of the administrative buildings lay on the left from where they were and the hangar in front of the ship — though he could see some hangar on the west side too just after the office building— and a resource silo was built on the west of the hangars. Overall the base looked like it lacked tighter security like Cheyenne.

He could see Mobile Suits milling about —MS from the GM line and the Zaku's— going to and fro everywhere. For the first time, he wondered if Admiral Revil's paranoia was too much if the base itself had this many units for its defense, then why bother with assigning them the protection of GP Units?

"C'mon Amuro," Chris called from the bridge door. "We've been given off duty this day." Captain Synapse had already gone ahead to meet with the base commander and until the testing, the three of them had free time. "Sayla's waiting for us on the hangar."

He knew what they were doing, and he didn't mind it.

Amuro replied, "yeah. Just go there first. I'll be there after changing my clothes."

After a few minutes of changing his clothes, he went to the hangar where their units were. Sayla and Chris were already on a jeep waiting for him and apparently ignoring the two men that were excitedly inspecting their MS, specifically the Sayla's Pixie.

"Keith," the one inspecting the unit said nearing a shout. "Check it out. It has thrusters on the side of its ankles and is lightly armored. I bet that this unit could hover like the Dom could like that other Gundam." The black haired man checking out Sayla's unit gestured at the RX-78-08th Gundam. Specifically, its thruster laden body like the side of the ankles, its back, and a big backpack that had four thrusters on it for more speed.

His unit had a heavy backpack that even if it has the additional thrusters on its legs to increase the mobility of it, it simply could not hover due to its weight. Granted, he could use the Wired Bits as additional thrusters, but it would only help with jump higher planetside and increase his speed in space.

"Hey Kou, what're these," the ash blond person pointed at the remote weapons laying beside the Netix. "Are these detachable cannons, but isn't it too big to be cannons? Even the original Guncannon didn't have weapons large as these."

"Those?" he said offhandedly with an easy wave of his hands, "there are rumors that the Federation is experimenting on Newtype weapons. Y'know like the ones Zeon used on the war. It might be that."

Amuro was impressed with the man's eye for details.

Keith immediately stood ramrod straight and elbowed the other man, 'Kou,' upon seeing him approaching them on the way to the jeep on the other side of the hangar. "Hey Kou," he warned as he immediately saluted him and Amuro returned Ensign Keith's salute easily.

"What is it Keith," annoyance crept up the other's voice as he replied and grunted. His muttering reached his ears and he could hear the man's technical words as he continued observing the Pixie.

"Kou, an officer is here!"

Kou whipped his head back at him and saluted at him, while Keith looked abash. "Ensign Kou Uraki and Chuck Keith, sir."

"Sorry for the disruption, Lieutenant. My friend and I are just checking the Gundams. Mora from the maintenance crew gave us the clearance since it's not being serviced right now."

Ah, that would explain it. Amuro smiled a little, "it's fine. As you were. Seems like Kou was just admiring the units, nothing wrong with that. After all, it's not every day we see a Federation Gundam Unit, isn't it? If you want to, you can check out the cockpits and move them a bit." Kou's expression of nearly unsuppressed glee made him thought of his decision for a second. "Provided that you tell the bridge I gave you my permission and not cause trouble."

"Thank you, sir." Kou returned to examining the units. "We promise to keep it the way it was!"

"C'mon, Amuro," Chris called.

Looking at the other two and seeing nothing wrong with letting them just hang around their suits, he jogged towards his friends and told them of what he said to the excitable man. As they left the hangar, he heard Keith shout something to his friend.

* * *

Hope you guys like it. :)


	2. Chapter 2

I hope you guys like this. :)

Edit: 05/20/19: Edited some stuffs.

* * *

They returned to the ship on the turn of twilight after a long day of roaming around the base like checking out the base and it's MS loadout, and watching the sunset. Beautiful as the ocean view may have been, he felt sad knowing it was due to a colony drop.

He plopped on his bed after a long bath. He was not tired, but it just took a lot of him. His eyes slowly closed, and he let himself fall into Morhpeus' realm.

_Why did you come too late!_

_ Beam swords clashed_,_ and his heart raced like thunder. _

_ A loud screeching scream tore open his consciousness and found himself afloat._

_ Amuro could see a swan floating and flapping its wings on the far side of the white expanse. The being raised its head and he could feel its presence as it soared closer to him. He could hear its call_, _an incomprehensible_,_ yet easily understandable words were what she cried. Her words laced with regret and compassion that felt dug deep into his soul. He walked_, _or rather float_, _yet he found that he could not move._

_ He was helpless in this weird world that he found himself in waiting for the giant being to come to him. Looking at his hands_, _or rather a lack of it_, _he had to stifle a scream threatening out of his throat. When it became too much_, _he let it out only to hear nothing come from him. _

_ The closer the swan got the closer he found it hard to breathe. Amuro wanted to get away from it. _

_ He closed his eyes_,_ yet he could still see everything. "Get away from me!" he wanted to say but still silence held sway over him. _

_ The being got large as it got closer and closer and continued to glow brighter each second it closes the gap._

_ Upon reaching him_, _he had screamed as his heart sunk deeper into his soul. The weight too much for him to handle. His futile screaming continued and he could feel himself sinking and the vast white space slowly turned dark._

_ Loud screech thundered throughout the expanse. _

He bolted awake screaming and his chest rising and falling fast with his lungs out of air. Wiping the sweat off his face, he glanced to his left at the clock and saw that he fell asleep for about two hours. Looking at the ceiling and forgetting—and failing— about his dream. Grabbing his prescribed medicine, he drank it without hesitation. He rarely drank the prescribe medicine —much to Sayla's annoyance— because he doesn't like the strange effect it has on him. When he does take it, it's during times like he was facing now.

His robot partner bounding to him was the only thing that broke the solemn silence of his quarters. "Amuro tired, Amuro tired." Haro jumped next to him.

"A bad dream, Haro." He smiled at the little toy and bounced it on his palm. Laying on the bed he continuously repeated his actions.

After minutes of playing with the robot and was sure he was not breathless, he sat. He found himself smiling a little at the little robot and patted its head. He remembered when he presented Haro to a toy company on the suggestion of Sayla two years ago to make it a multipurpose toy for people of all ages.

He remembered when he showed it to Frau Bow. Just like his dad, she liked it and was proud of what he did. He couldn't help but smile at the remembrance and wondered how she was doing with Mirai now.

"Okay now, Amuro? Okay now?"

"I'm fine now, Haro. Just a little breathless." Truthfully, Amuro just didn't want to sleep. Even just a brief nap, he couldn't unless he was tired.

Sitting on the bed, he turned to the right as and grabbed a tool as he opened the round robot. Amuro worked in silence as he worked in to inspect any kinks he may have missed on Haro. For hours, Amuro worked in silence and appreciated the peace of mind given by his time alone for it reminded him of his time on Side 7. Back when times were simple, and all he had to worry about was eat, bath, school, and whether Frau would scold him for the umpteenth time in a week for neglecting his health.

He found himself smiling and his eyes somehow got teary at the thought.

That reminded him, he wondered how were the others doing. Frau decided to finish her schooling with Mirai as her guardian along with the three kids from the White Base. Kai, Hayato, and Captain Bright, he didn't know what they were up to now, but he hoped that they were doing okay.

He winced when his thoughts went to Sayla. Chris, he could understand since she enlisted on her own will. But just like him, Sayla was forced to fight for her life when Side 7 was attacked by Zeon. After the war, she had the chance to get out of the military because unlike him she had her own life waiting; which was to finish her medical studies. She had dreams.

He didn't get out because what was waiting for him outside? His mother hated his guts and it was evident in their bitter goodbyes. The only person waiting for him was his father despite his insanity. He couldn't get over what happened to his dad. Why did it have to happen to him?

His father's recovery from his delusion was questionable at best making his chest stir and rolled uncomfortably every time he visited him. His relationship with his dad may have been shaky, but he didn't doubt his dad's love for him was real and his only hope was that he recovered even if a little of his sanity. He wanted to do anything for him that of all things, he of all people, did the thing he had forgotten since then: praying just like his mother taught him when he was a boy.

"Amuro," Sayla called from the door. "Are you awake?"

"I'm up, I'm up," he changed his shirt quickly and opened the door. Sayla peered at his dimly lit quarters and shook his head in amusement but otherwise said nothing about her actions. He knew she was silently commenting about the state of his temporary quarters"What do you need? If it's about the Gundams, I've checked the units and those two didn't tamper with it."

She shook her head. "Are you okay? You're looking pale and sweaty."

Forcing a smile, but it felt more like a grimace, he replied, "yeah. Just forgot to turn on the AC. Also from lack of sleep. You know how it goes." He shrugged it off as if it was nothing, but both of them knew better. "Are we being called by the Captain?"

"No, Chris and I just wanted to invite you to dinner. You can't always stay in your room, you know. What would Frau Bow say when she sees you still like this?"

Knowing his childhood friend, she'd fuss over him like a mother hen and scold him for being so reclusive. _Meet new friends_,_ Amuro_, a voice just like Frau said to him, or reprimanding him the way she used to.

Relenting to her request, he sighed. "Fine. Just let me change my clothes in a minute."

Chris, already in a table, waved at them when they arrived there and with their food on the table. "Amuro, you look pale. You should really eat and go out in the sun a lot," she chastised while waving the spoon with her eyebrows furrowed.

He chuckled. "I am. I teach the cadets out in the field when needed, plus I patrol the base as ordered so I do get enough exposure."

"Yes, you do," was her amused response. "But, still, I'm thinking that's not enough. You still look white as a vampire."

He knew that. He knew that some nights when terror grips his heart and mind, sleep would elude him for many nights. _No_, it was not only him that knew that. Sayla and Chris knew too for a long time since after the war. He went to the mandated therapy —courtesy of Admiral Revil— but he wasn't sure it worked because the dream, that moment, still persisted despite everything he did.

Heaving and shrugged, "I know. I'm doing the best I can yet…"

"Don't worry," Sayla said taking his hands into hers. "Just take it slow."

His heart fluttered at the gesture of the blonde and he had to look away as his cheeks heat up. He sighed and silently agreed as he ate whilst the two talked. In the middle of their conversation, the ship rocked, and he held on to the table to prevent himself from falling sideways.

The people chatter in worry and ran out of the mess hall. Most likely to their battle stations.

"What was that!" Chris turned to him and Sayla. Without words said, the three of them ran towards the hangar.

Amuro felt his senses shake from the numerous screech that reached his senses. The fear, anger, and shock all coalesced into one big pile of emotional collage that had no form. Still, he had to move forward and not let it take him like a raging wave.

"All crew to your battle stations, this is not a drill. All crew to your battle stations, I repeat this is not a drill."

Everyone ran left and right ran fast as they could without pushing each other. With the hall full of the running crew, they had to endure the shaking for minutes as they went quickly despite the situation.

Upon reaching the hangar, they wasted no time and got on their respective units. The crew ran about and he had to avoid hitting them in their rush to their Mobile Suits. Seeing the familiar tall figure of Mora Boscht he called her.

"Mora!" he called at the woman running and heading somewhere on the ship. "What's going on." She turned in his general direction, but Before the large woman could reply, their world trembled again making him rush towards the Netix.

"Bridge, what's going on!"

The comm officer with contained panic in his eyes quickly replied, "Zeon Forces have stolen Unit 02 and are attacking the base!"

His body went cold on the mention of the second unit being stolen. Looks like Admiral Revil's fears were not unwarranted after all! He only could imagine what Zeon would do with a powerful nuclear-equipped unit such as the Physalis. Of all the times they had to strike, it had to be when they were at the weakest. _Such was their fortune, _he thought.

_No! _They had been through so much already! One war was already enough! "Any pursuers." He pursed his lips and hoped that at least someone tried to stop it from falling in Zeon hands.

"A test pilot took Unit 01 to try and stop Unit 02." He acknowledged that with a brief nod. That was good. _Hopefully_, _Unit 01 will buy enough time for us to catch it._

"What about enemies," Chris asked.

"Squad of Doms."

He clicked his tongue. That was not good. It's a blitzkrieg attack used as a distraction most likely to let the thief get away with their prize.

"I'll see if I can stop Unit 02," Amuro stated to his two companions.

"I'll assist in intercepting enemy MS," Sayla said.

"I'll cover the HQ," Chris said. "Be careful guys."

When the hangar MS hatch opened, all they saw was fire and explosion that would quickly swallow the base quickly if they don't stop the attack. The three of them —with haste— went quickly into action.

Determination filling him, he nodded and said, "Okay!" He and Sayla replied at the same time. The Pixie went to where the fight was thickest. The part where the light of gunfire lit the dark yet scorching base. He could see fast moving MS fighting against a group of GM's.

With all of that said, they all moved towards their objectives. He swallowed hard seeing the peaceful state of the base now a wreck. Many Federation Mobile Suits littered the pavement with its debris and parts. The thought of the dead piling up if they don't stop the attack, motivated him to stop the Zeons.

His eyes widened when a wave of missile dropped on them and he had to return to the ship for cover and still raised his shield in defense. As if it wasn't enough, the damage brought to the base doubles as everywhere it was lit giving an apocalyptic ambiance. Gripping the control stick tightly, he breathed heavily and closed his eyes.

Contacting the other two, static was all he had and he no doubtedly knew that the ship was releasing Minovsky Particles.

Images of his fight for survival flashed through his mind, but he stamped it all down and breathed heavily to calm himself. Finally, stopping his trembling hand, he commed the ship.

"Bridge," he contacted them putting all urgency in his voice and the shaky image of the CIC Officer shown. "Where's the Physalis."

"The Hangars near the silos 11 o'clock of the ship. Unit 01 is currently holding it off. Hurry, Lieutenant!"

Pushing the thrusters, he jumped to where one GM fought against a Dom. It was a losing fight as the two units surrounded it. Not a moment later, a heat saber cut it in half right where the cockpit was. He flinched and clamped down at the anger and regret that came from the GM pilot. Ignoring the glee and satisfaction the two enemy pilot had, he calmed —or rather did his best— so as to stay focused.

He landed near the control towers and would've jumped again had it not for the two Doms going towards him in high speeds. He rolled aside as the rocket fired exploded behind him sending him stumbling forward from the force. Then raising his shield, he was pushed back by the impact of the rocket.

The first Dom rushed towards him heat sabers already drawn.

Pressing a button, the wrist weapons opened, he fired. His opponent turned right and spun dodging the beam, but he fired again and grazed its left arm. Amuro followed it with a dash towards it. He stiffened when his senses rang loud, and he just knew it was too late to evade so he spun and raised his shield in time to get hit. Once again his unit was pushed back by the impact, but he still fired back on the Dom he first targeted with the wrist beam gun. The Dom sidestepped expertly making the pilot miss by a wide margin and then went to slid behind the building. Not if he could help it, focusing for a second, he fired, and his shot grazed its leg thruster.

Muttering a silent apology to the other pilots, he turned and jumped to where the two units were last seen. He had worse things to worry about than the two Doms and so he flew once more.

He landed behind Unit 02 having a stare down with its brother unit. Upon sensing him, the enemy moved left and away from them where he could now see the two of them.

Opening a channel, he contacted the Zephyranthes. "Unit 01," he said, "are you alright."

"Lieutenant Ray!" he was shocked to hear the pilot of the unit was the one he met earlier, Ensign Kou Uraki. Relief filled the man's voice and his fear towards whoever the pilot of Unit 02 was, was alleviated.

"Another young officer in a Gundam? Is the Federation so desperate they enlist young men in high ranks and pilot these never-ending monstrosities," a man— whose voice indicated he was older than him by many years— said with derisive condescension. "I hope your Gundam isn't just for show, young man."

"Who are you. Why are you doing this?" he nearly growled. "Do you people really want another war!?" Zeon already lost! Can't these people accept that fact and move on? How many more people and bloodshed must be spilled until they are satisfied? How many more had to be killed for their ideology?

"I am Anavel Gato, the Nightmare of Solomon, and I claim this unit for the Glory of Zeon!" Where did he hear that name? It seemed familiar. Shaking his head, now was not the time for thinking. He heard the man say, "I will bring glory to the name of Zeon once more! What's your name, Gundam pilot."

He remained silent and wary of the man in the cockpit of the Physalis for he felt a strong presence in it. The presence felt so heavy that he found it hard to focus along with the Ensign's shock voice saying; "Anavel Gato? The Ace Pilot under Dozle?" he stuttered to say.

"I see courtesy is absent in the Federation ranks," Gato sneered when he didn't answer.

Swallowing hard, he controlled himself and ignoring the strong presence the man had. "I am Lieutenant Amuro Ray."

"Amuro Ray," he could hear the man whisper in subdued shock. "The White Devil. I see. You're young for an ace pilot, yet skilled to kill many of my comrades. Still, God must be smiling down on me for giving the chance to avenge my lost comrades! Finally, a worthy adversary for me to end!" Gato said, and he had to think for a second if that was respect in the Gundam thief's voice.

Amuro then recoiled from the amount of determined hatred and anger this man had. The man's very presence had him shaking. It's as if he was a prey staring down at a wolf. _What_ _is_ _this pressure?_ He had felt a similar presence like this before during the Siege of Solomon, specifically the one who piloted the Mobile Armor. And the name, he was sure he heard it in passing before were pilots who talked about the name said it so in fear and respect.

He reeled back for a second when the large Gundam dashed towards him melee weapon ready. Before Gato could reach him he had drawn his own beam saber. The weight of the Physalis pushed him back and he had to counteract it with his own Gundam's thrusters.

Quickly, the Physalis drew back the sword and swiped horizontally. Amuro's senses went on overload and he blocked it with his shield deflecting it back. He thrusts at his opponent's cockpit but the Nightmare of Solomon redirected his strike deftly by arching his saber hand down. He was struck in shock when the Physalis circled him faster than he expected, but his shock was quickly quelled as he turned and their blades clash once more as he turned to meet him.

The large shield flew towards him and he knew he could not stop it, so he jumped back. Alas, the Nightmare of Solomon was unrelenting as he pushed forward —blade ready to pierce. They dueled with each strike precise than the other.

As he and Gato exchanged blows, circling and testing each other's defense he found himself imagining fighting Char all over again. Calling the ensign many times, his heavy breathing was all Amuro got. That is until Unit 01, with a scream of Gato's name from Kou, struck behind Unit 02.

At the same time, he swung his saber at Gato. With swift movements, Gato caught his beam saber and the Physalis' large shield got the brunt of Kou's attack which he then proceeded to smash the ensign away with said shield. The other unit's rough landing gave a loud thud even in the midst of the chaos.

"Don't get in my way rookie."

Amuro jumped back when the shield went towards him this time.

Kou stuttered, but it turned to anger quickly. "Rookie." The Zephyranthes stood on shaky legs and ran towards their enemy.

Amuro threw the Netix's shield at the stolen Gundam only for it to be sliced in half. That was all he needed to point his wrist beam guns. Before Amuro could fire his beam weapons, he swiftly jumped aside when the large shield was all he saw as Gato went straight for him ignoring the Ensign. Gato hit nothing but air as he moved left and ducked. Again, the shield was rammed towards him but he avoided it as he rolled.

Thrusting his melee weapon while kneeling, Gato swiped Amuro's weapon away and rapidly in his turn to counter Kou who took the opportunity to attack.

"Uraki," he called. "Get away!" Drawing another saber, he then opened fire with the beam guns. "He's too dangerous to take on alone."

As expected, Gato dodged the beam easily —despite his bulky unit— and hit the hangar doors nearly grazing Unit 01.

"I can take him."

For a brief moment, Amuro remembered his first fight with Char. He didn't bother arguing with his ally knowing it'd take time and dashed forward Unit 02 while Gato was distracted by Kou.

"You defeat me? Who do you think you are!" As if to prove a point, Unit 02 easily avoided the strike of the first unit by sidestepping and brought his sword down for a final strike. It would've happened had he not met the man's blade with his own and counterattacked with a thrust using the other saber causing Gato to jumped back to avoid it.

"As expected of the White Devil! But still not enough!" The Nightmare of Solomon harrumphed. "I wonder how _The Red Comet_ lost to you. Learn from him before facing me again rookie."

The Physalis turned and immediately he and Kou were on the move. "I will avenge my comrades soon, White Devil." The hate rolled off the man in waves pointed at him once more made it hard for him to breathe that his hair stood in chill.

Amuro shot him once again, but Gato was fast to react in which he raised his shield and the beam dissipated with no problem. The thrusts of Physalis activated as Gato jumped above them and disappeared swiftly.

"Gato!" Ensign Kou screamed, and his unit's thrust lit in preparation to follow.

"Ensign!" he called, quickly turning to follow the unit too. The sensors beeped, "missiles!" he shouted as many missiles were detected. Grabbing the Zephyranthes, he dragged it under the hangar's cover.

The ground and the building they were in trembled. He gripped his controls tightly and as the onslaught continued. He winced at the numerous sensations that hit him, it's like candle lights were snuffed out. He had to hold his head and could only grit his teeth as voices screamed in pain.

"Lieutenant!" A distant voice called. Slowly, the voice got louder until it reached his ears. "Lieutenant! Are you okay?"

He gasped as he got ahold of himself. "What happened."

"Gato…," he struggled to say with his heavy breaths. "He escaped."

He can only imagine the disappointment of Captain Synapse and Admiral Revil. He was already expecting reprimand from his COs for letting the Zeon pilot go. More than that, how and where were they going to use the nuclear bazooka.

Before any more words could be said, the Albion's anti-air guns fired on the sky. Even though it was dark, he could see the smoky trail of the missiles heading down on them for an explosive collision. Some of the missiles lit up the sky like a New Year's firework as it was hit by the anti-air guns.

_They won't stop it all!_

He knelt and crossed the Netix's hands across its chest in preparation for the inevitable blasts that were sure to follow.

Just as he expected the ground rocked once again and the force on the missiles left him shaking on his seat and his MS' alarms blared loud in alert. He could hear Uraki say something, but he couldn't make it out amidst all of the chaos.

He winced because as quick the attack came, it left swiftly and the silence came back to the base. It was quick, but he felt it. Fears and pain everywhere coalesced into a single being that he had to put a wall between the outside world and himself lest he feels the cries of many.

Narrowing his eyes and fist shaking, all he could see was the destruction of the base lit up the by fires of the remains of Mobile suits or whatever was left of the buildings. As if it couldn't get any worse, the cries of many echoed on his mind like a wave on a stormy shore despite his efforts to keep them out!

With gritted teeth, he contacted the Albion with deep breaths. "Captain, Anavel Gato got away."

The Captain's eyes darkened, "I see. I've ordered two squadrons available to pursue the Zeons. The first squadron is already pursuing them as we speak. I want you to join the Ensign on the second group. The other two Gundams will to catch up once we've secured the perimeter."

"Understood," he nodded. "You got that Ensign Uraki?" He got no response from the Ensign. "Ensign, respond."

"Yes, sir."

They didn't have to wait because a mish mashed squad of three Mobile suits—the GM Powered, a GM Type C the with orange chest equipped with a prototype backpack—, a GM Type C, and a white Zaku II F2 drawn closer to them. He had to squint just to identify the MS because the fire and smoke dancing in a chaotic manner hid everything from plain sight and made it hard for him to physically identify them in this dark.

"This is Lt. Burning, Dick, and Keith," a grizzled commanding voice introduced themselves when they got near pointing to the Type C, Powered GM, and lastly the Zaku.

"Lieutenant Ray," the leader of the squad, —even if the communications were fizzling due to Minovsky particles— was a dark-skinned middle-aged man wearing a red helmet greeted. "Ensign Uraki, the enemy's retreated. We're going following the first team's trail after Gato to recover Unit 02."

"C'mon. If we speed it up, we could catch up with the first group." The older man ordered. "I'm taking command. This is Burning, we're going after them!"

"We're gonna earn those paychecks and get back at those Zeon!" the GM Powered pilot, who was a fair-skinned man, said with passion and controlled anger lacing his voice. He may appear as calm, but it was his eyes and soul that held the storm.

He was of the same sentiment as the man was. Zeon would have to be stopped.

Both Kou and him were given Bullpup machine and he picked up a GM Type C Shield nearby. He muttered silent apologies to the one who held it before picking the weapons.

"Can you believe it, Kou. We've survived our first fight." Kou's friend's voice trembled as he said this while chuckling. "Now we're retrieving a Gundam from an Ace pilot? I can't believe it." Keith's fear stuck with him and even with his complaint, he felt the man not succumbed to his base emotion.

A low mumble was all Kou said in return.

Amuro couldn't look at the base directly. If he did, who knows what sort of imagery his broken mind might give him. The destroyed town of their colony on Side 7? All the Friends he lost during the war? It was enough to feel the agony that lingered on the air, he didn't need the destruction left by Zeon. Try as he might to block all stimuli outside, the pain lingered in the air and everyone still hurting had their presence invade his mind with incomprehensible and wordless agony that left him gritting his teeth.

The Albion contacting them thankfully broke him out of his imagining. "Burning Team, a Zeon recovery ship has been identified at four o'clock. Sending location now."

So, their target is not Jaburo or any base on Earth if they're planning to escape to space. So, what are they planning with Unit 02? There must be more to this theft because he didn't think Zeon remnants wouldn't want to risk the ire of the Federation and search for them much more thoroughly this time.

"What about the first team?" was Lt. Burning asked.

"No response yet."

"Shit," Lt. Allen clicked his teeth. "Gato must've got them."

"Don't finish that thought yet Allen." The older man said firmly. "Minovsky particles are messing with our comm, it's likely they are far away to be contacted."

With that they set on their way to were the estimated location of the recovery ship. They traveled fast in an arrowhead formation with Lt. Burning taking the lead. He and Keith were on the right side while Uraki and Allen covered the left flank.

"Why do you think they stole the nuke?" Keith asked.

He listened in to the others while keeping an eye on the surrounding. He wouldn't mind exploring this part of Australia for it seemed beautiful, but their —or was it his?— fortune was never that good to afford a vacation. The situation now could be an example of what his luck where instead of just a simple escort mission, it turned to retrieval.

Allen scoffed, "because the Zeons are sore losers and can't accept they lost."

"But why," Amuro asked as his mind thought deeply about it. "Why did they steal the Physalis if they wanted nuke? I doubt they lack the resources to make it."

Lt. Allen scoffed, and he could imagine the man rolling his eyes, as he then replied, "isn't it obvious? They want to bomb Jaburo or any Federation major base to eat our own medicine. They could also take it back to where Kycilia is hiding now and take it apart before they attack."

"But," he uttered to himself. Lt. Allen was right, it was to strike something or bring it back to be studied. If they're using it somewhere, then wouldn't that be too obvious since they knew that Jaburo is too tightly defended. Before they could even approach the base, they'd be shot down by multitudes of MS along with its anti-air defense. He would put his money on them stealing it to reverse engineer a black project MS, but it seemed unlikely to him. "It's too obvious. Zeon knows they don't have many resources to attack Jaburo. Even if they send Unit 02, they'll still be hard-pressed to assault it."

"Plus, in terms of technology, the Physalis is not much of advancement in Mobile suit standpoint. We don't lose much of its theft aside from the threat of nuke and they don't get that much of Unit 02 to advance their MS." He added.

In terms of technology, Physalis is standard but with few new innovations like its anti-radiation, flexible thrusters, joint magnetic coating, Lunar Titanium alloy, and few more but he doubted that Zeon would get a lot out of it with the Federation still catching up on some Zeon MS technology. Even now a Gelgoog could outmatch a GM Type C and some of its variation. So, they had to use the bomb somewhere, and the question is where.

_Could it be possible that they'll try revealing it to the colonies to rile the citizens there and gather more support?_

Lt. Burning hummed in thought or in possible agreement. No one else replied to his statement for he knew no one had the answer until events unfolded itself.

"Lieutenant Ray," he recognized Keith's voice.

"Amuro is fine," he corrected. He didn't think he would get used to people calling him with his rank on the three years he was being the Squad commander of the 08th Team on Cheyenne. He always insisted on being called his name which the oldest member of his squad gladly followed.

"Lieu —Amuro, sir," Keith said correcting himself. "Were you scared when you fought Gato?"

Despite the severity of the situation, he gave out a hearty chuckle. "I was." _Or rather still is._ He closed his eyes in deep thought. Sometime during the One Year War, he just got used to it —to the fear of dying in battle. Whether that was a good thing or not he still did not know. "The fear never really leaves but I just..." He wasn't sure how to say it that it'd be understood quickly. "I just got used to it." Shrugging a little, he continued, "maybe somewhere along the way I've had enough of fear and just faced it knowing it was useless to be frozen in shock and just do your best to live until the next battle."

He was not afraid to admit that his heart raced every time he's sortied into the battle.

"He's right." Lt. Allen seconded somewhat somber. "What matters is you face and overcome that fear."

Amuro didn't doubt that these two faced greater challenges than him, because based on their ages they might have been ground soldiers or fighter pilots during the war before the production of the GM. He wondered what it would be like to know they were outclassed in every way with no Mobile suits like the Gundam or even the GM to back them up. It wasn't the same with the Core Fighter and the White Base since they know they can fight MS with their three units.

"Remember that Uraki and Keith," the CO of the team stated. "The feeling of fear is what sets training and the real combat apart. It's normal to feel fear in combat, but don't let it control you."

How many times had he been forced to force his own fear in battle during the war? Honestly, he lost count and wouldn't want to know how many times. He didn't want to get used to battling that he felt nothing out of it.

It was Uraki and Keith's first time experiencing the battlefield? He guessed he shouldn't be shocked because the two did look like they were older than him by a year. They would've enlisted after the war unlike him, Sayla, Kai, and Hayato who were forcefully enlisted.

"So, Amuro," the Powered GM's pilot called. "How did it feel piloting the Gundam and fighting The Red Comet throughout the war, no less."

"You wanna know how the "White Devil" came to be?" He asked and a series of agreements came from his new comrades.

He had to chuckle because it was one of the first questions his squad had asked when they knew he was the "White Devil." And one that he answered far too many times for his liking. He did his best to survive. That's it. He did nothing significant because there were lots of Ace Pilots better than him, and they piloted a simpler MS like the GM, so he wondered why some people kept being enamored by him.

Just to break the silence, he relented and told his experience. "It was by chance that I stumbled to the Gundam," he admitted feeling himself yearning for the simple life. So, as they chased the Gato's runaway group fast as they can, along the way he told them bits and pieces of what happened; like how he piloted the Gundam to being conscripted to a Federation pilot.

"I never expected a civilian to hold off Char Aznable," Burning commented mid-explanation.

"To be honest, it was the Gundam's abilities," was his blunt reply. Maybe sometime in the past he would've denied that truth, but he knew better now. It took facing many great pilots to make him realize that his skill was partly due to the Gundam. Without the Gundam, he doubted he would have the time to develop the piloting skills he had during the war until now. If he was piloting, say a GM, on Side 7, he doubted he would make it past those two Zaku's at all.

"True enough," Allen commented not missing the snark in his voice. "Still," he continued, "you can't deny that even with the Gundam's power, your skills were a factor to the defeat of some Zeon Ace Pilots."

He didn't get to finish the story because they arrived at the estimated location of the Komusai. A rocky place where spires as tall as their Mobile suits naturally spread throughout the view. Though he could noticed some parts of the land were flat. No doubt the part where the Komusai landed on to had to be flat and wide enough to land and later accelerate to escape the gravity.

In their search, the only light that guided them was from the generous luminous moon looming above. He bit his lip on their fortune, or rather their misfortune, as the darkness of the night gave their enemies the advantage of the shadows.

_A perfect place to hide_, he silently commented.

Lieutenant Burning broke the silence, "Uraki you're with me on the left flank. Keith, with Allen on the right. Amuro, in the middle. Understood?"

"Roger," he said.

"Got it," Lt. Allen replied.

Alone, Amuro went forward machinegun and shield ready. He was at a disadvantage against the Dom's mobility in a place like this where they could use hit and run tactics well. Mobility and thicker armor were things that Zeon still had in spades with their MS. Despite the improvements of GM's, it was still behind the speed of the Doms and Gelgoogs, their thicker armor also can take much more bullets than the Federation's MS can.

In the silence of the night, all he heard was the loud footsteps of the Gundam he piloted. Each step was like the sound of the gigantic fire breathing monster's footsteps of a film from the A.D. era he remembered watching when he was young. Godziro, if he recalled the name correctly.

He thought he might've seen a shadow moving from the left but he wasn't sure since it was so dim, so he just kept an eye on it. His eyes flitted everywhere, and his senses focused even on the little things.

"Report," their CO ordered.

"Nothing yet," he replied first.

Allen replied a second later, "negative," his response a little fuzzy.

"Roger. Give us a sign on contact, Burning out."

All he saw was the same as he continued his patrol. Still, he didn't let his guard down knowing the enemy may strike any second.

They searched the field but still, he found nothing and their radar was not helping with the search since it was still affected by the Minovsky particles reaching all the way here to a certain degree. He didn't think that they would just let their squad approach the Komusai without intercepting them. He was sure they were lurking, hidden in the shadows, somewhere on this sad yet eventful night.

"Lt. Burning," Allen called. "We have eyes on the Komusai."

Looking at the static radar, Keith and Allen were two hundred meters on the right. Lt. Burning and the ensign were circling the perimeter, now getting closer him by nearly half a hundred meters.

The older man hummed in approval. "Good. Fire when ready. Uraki and I will meet up with Amuro and strike the front."

He shivered when something was suddenly appeared and flicked off quickly on the distance. The radar was didn't help in determining exactly where. Fear and shock spiked that it made him turn. Just as quick its presence was, it was also swift in fading like a speck of dust. He looked east when he saw smoke suddenly appearing and darkening the sky. Just one look at it and he knew what happened.

Just as he was about to turn on that direction, the familiar beep of the sensor alerted him. His senses went all haywire made him turn to hear the blast of a bazooka firing. He saw the figure of a Dom heading for cover, but he had no time to counter for he raised his shield and took the attack head-on. His shield broke from the easily against the impact of the projectile.

The moment the Dom went out of its cover somewhere on his right, he struck first with his machine gun. The gun rattled as he fired in automatic mode. Sparks lit the unit's body, but it wasn't enough for it to go down. Before he could use the wrist guns, it dashed to hide once more.

Running ahead towards where he expected his opponent to come out, he met nothing but air.

The alarm blared again, and he was just as fast to turn in time upon hearing the Dom fire once more. Jumping to the side, the rocket flew past him and his enemy got out of his way before he could attempt to counter. The blast shook the earth beneath them, but he ignored that and swiftly rolled away as the Zeon pilot kept up with its swift melee strikes. It circled him like a predator finding its prey with the way its humming engines kept going around him.

"This is no GM! No GM!" he retaliated with his rifle seeing where his enemy would go next, but the pilot was good that he evaded the shots. Still, some of his shots hit the target often grazing the armor. He continued firing and now with his beam guns too. The Dom evaded his beams and bullet shots by zigzagging away from him and firing in return but he could see that his shots grazed the Mobile Suit.

As a projectile headed for him fast, he was prepared this time around and shot it down with the rifle. The ensuing explosion covered his field of vision with its blast, but he fired regardless of the condition with his left wrist beam gun while the other held the beam saber ready.

Amuro had no plan to be a stationary target and boosted right in the open field. The sensors blared in warning of the Dom coming from the smoke with its red heat saber in hand behind him. Beam saber ready, he blocked in time for the unit to slide past him with their melee weapons clashing for a second.

Turning, he saw the Dom fired, and Amuro dodged left, but he was expected to react that way as the Dom fired ahead of him. It was only thanks to his quick reflexes that he spun to the right avoiding it by a hair's breadth. Still, the shot made him tumble from its impact sending him to the ground.

Amuro grunted and felt himself go breathless when his unit rolled on the ground facing the Dom. Immediately standing, his eyes went wide for a second when the unit was already on before him. Rearing the now free hand, he hit its torso — exactly right where its cockpit was— making it go careening away from him whilst temporarily immobile.

_I'm not done yet!_ He fired the beam wrist guns and pierced the cockpit. The unit exploded a second later lighting the vicinity of the battlefield in a bright-hued explosion.

"Go, Uraki! Stop it now!" Was the urgent command of Lt. Burning through gritted teeth. He didn't have time to wonder what the Lt wanted the Ensign to do as he moved towards perhaps where he knew the transport was.

Unit 01 flew and landed somewhere he couldn't because the rocks covered his sight. Swiftly, he rushed towards he thought the Komusai would be and hoped he didn't mix his directions.

The entire field lit up brighter this time and he could hear the roar of the transport ship's engines running. The light moved quickly causing Amuro to push his thrusters to its limit. He landed just to see the rear end of the ship, too far for his machinegun or beam weapons to reach. Despite knowing this, he fired his beam weapons in hopes that it would reach the escaping transport.

"Uraki!" he screamed even if no one heard him. He was their last chance of stopping its ascent now!

His body roared in defiance and his finger curled around the control stick tightly. _We couldn't let Zeon start another war!_ Futile as it was, he leaped into the air in a bid to catch the ship. _Please. Please. Please_,_ let me catch up to it!_

The unit groaned as it landed and flew in a constant rate and no matter how much power he put on the thrust alone, it was not sufficient for it was getting smaller and smaller.

Up ahead, something flashed but he couldn't see it clearly for the smoke obscured whatever it was the next second.

All his energy left him when the Komusai flew to the air and continued ascending. He shivered from the sudden coldness that wreathed his body as he could only watch helplessly of the Komusai's continuous rising that left a trail of smoke. The trail mocked him to no end as if to say, "try and catch us."

His fingers let go of the controls as it shook uncontrollably. He didn't know what to feel aside from the heavy feeling that settled on his chest. It stayed even as he continued breathing in hopes he would be free from its grasp.

_We failed._ His chest became heavy and his breath crawled to a snail's pace. He could only watch disappear into the night sky later fading into nothingness.

"Lieutenant," a faded voice called but all he could hear was his failure to help prevent its escape that drags his chest down. "Lieutenant!" He jerked straight to look at the Zephyranthes supporting Lt Burning's Type C GM that had mangled arms and looked like it fought against a rock. "Lt. Ray, are you okay."

"Uh," he cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine," he all but muttered and making sure to keep his voice even.

"Come on," Lt. Burning —despite heaving in hidden discomfort that he detected— ordered leaving no room for discussion. "We need to report back to the ship."

"What about Allen, Lt. Burning," a somber Keith asked, or rather protested. "We can't leave him alone."

"Leave him for the recovery team," was all Burning said in that matter.

The older man didn't have to admit it openly but all around him he felt a mixture of something dark, fiery, defiant, withdrawn, yet still determined to remain standing.

"But—"

"Do you think he could've live from that attack?" he asked, interrupting the ensign midspeech.

Keith stuttered, but replied nonetheless, "no, sir."

"Do you want to see his remains."

He winced remembering Ryu's sacrifice. With his sacrifice, there was no body left to be buried. And even if there was, he wouldn't look at what became of their friend and comrade. _No._ If possible, he would always remember the man the way he always was when he was alive and not what he looked in his death.

"No," the man finally replied after a moment of silence.

With that, they set off back to the base. Unlike their way to chase Gato, no one talked. Silence filled the whole team with only the thrum of machinery joints and footsteps broke the peace as they go home defeated by the Nightmare of Solomon and one man down.

* * *

R & R. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Had this for a long time, re-edited and rechecked it many times to my unreasonable standards but figured if I did that I'd never be finished... so here it is. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam and characters involved in this. his is solely for entertainment.

* * *

He breathed deeply as Ensign Uraki, Lt. Burning —who was in a crutch—, and him entered the Captain's office. They were supposed to rest but had no choice but to report to the captain.

Saluting, the Captain returned the gesture. With the exception of Lt. Burning, they all remained standing. Captain Synapse's face was well guarded and professional revealing nothing of what he felt of what just happened. A tingling fear was building up in his chest that maybe the Captain will hold him accountable for Gato's escape.

Honestly, he didn't want to be here now after all that happened. He simply did not have the energy to do this now and would rather just sleep what remained of the night because he thought that any second more he felt that he was going to fall asleep whether he likes it or not. Still, he pushed that urge down and pull any strength he had because it was his responsibility to do so. Tension ran high tonight, and he didn't want to anger the Albion's captain if he came in late.

"I apologize for calling you suddenly after being patched up, Burning. It's unfortunate that happened," the Captain leaned back in his chair, his voice low. "Was it really Gato that stole the Unit 02?" His gaze turned to him and Uraki.

Amuro nodded, but he couldn't be sure because for all they know it was a person claiming to be Gato and banking on his Ace status to scare the Federation. "I don't know sir, but he was skilled as _The Red Comet_, sir."

"He introduced himself as Gato sir when he commandeered the Gundam," Uraki quickly spoke. His voice slightly cracked for a second, but he and the older officers made no comment about it. "If only…"

_I could stop him. _Was left unsaid of the Ensign. Flinching, Amuro understood what Uraki felt. But what was different was that he had no reason to lose against Gato. The heavy feeling on his chest didn't settle down and only seemed to worsen the more he thought of what he could've done. All the things he could've done, damn it!

"You two don't need to blame yourselves," the older pilot said coolly in what he interpreted as consoling them.

"Neither of you are to blame for this. We were all caught unaware of the attack. You four are lucky to have made it back unlike the first team I sent." The Captain's eyes darkened and an ugly feeling reared its head coming from the man for a second before disappearing.

He appreciated Lt. Burning and the Captain Synapse's words but if he wasn't to blame then who was? He was a more experienced pilot than Uraki, so he had less reason to lose Unit 02! _Damn it! _He had the ability to match Gato to stop—or even just stall him until the others arrived—by disabling the Physalis before it could escape, but no, he wasn't able to do that. _That wasn't what happened_, he scowled at the thought.

"Lt!" he snapped out of his reverie when the older pilot called him assertively. "Just calm down. We'll get him."

"Lt. Burning's right," the Captain's eyes narrowing a little was the only obvious reaction he had as his voice remained neutral. "No need for apologies you two." The Captain of Albion sighed lightly. "It was Gato you were facing, regardless of Ace Pilot status, he's a pilot beyond your skill level and one who has more experience than the two of you combined."

When the Captain said the last part his eyes were focused on him that it made Amuro look elsewhere but his Captain. "It was inevitable he would escape because they had planned this from the start. Still," he paused for a second, "the higher-ups weren't pleased when we reported the theft of Unit 02 at Gato's hand."

"Can't say I'm surprised," the Lt. Grunted. "Of course they aren't."

He scowled and couldn't be surprised by the brass' reaction at the situation too. They never were the merciful bunch and was always quick at looking to shift the blame on someone else despite the fact none of this would've happened had they not made Unit 02 in the first place. Well, some of them were, he supposed correcting his thoughts who were on the better spectrum Admira Revil, Vice Admiral Forer—who he met after _Operation Hellstorm _just to congratulate the three of them_—_, and the Cheyenne Base Commander Davidson. They didn't emit the air of superiority that some top officers did.

He didn't interrupt the Captain and waited for him to get to the point.

Glancing at the Ensign, he could feel the red hot anger hidden by his impassive face. But, under that was the guilt that ate his soul for obviously what he thought was the reason for Unit 02's theft.

"Admiral Revil has ordered us to wait for the reinforcements he called in."

"It's not like we're going anywhere for a few days, it looks like Gato and his brigade of freedom fighters did a number on the Albion." Captain Synapse managed to smirk a little about the Lt. Burning's quip. "Any news on the pursuit of Gato, sir."

"We lost contact with the flotilla that pursued them."

"Any information they had sir?" Ensign Uraki asked, nearly demanding but was polite enough to make it close to a request.

He frowned at that statement. There were a lot of Zeon remnants on space, yet there was only one powerful enough to contend with a small Federation fleet. One remnant that had held the most threatening power, aside from Kycilia Zabi, who had hidden fleet in the Earth sphere. Logically speaking, it was the most likely group that Gato would belong to as he escaped via shuttle.

"Only one word came through before we lost contact," the Captain's eyes narrowed. "_Delaz Fleet._"

* * *

When they came out of the Captain's Office, to his surprise, Sayla and Chris were waiting. The two looked at him hiding their worry no doubt judging from their tense bodies.

"Lieutenant Burning," they both saluted at the older man.

Uraki was quick to salute at them in acknowledgment of their rank. Both his friends returned the gesture.

"Just call me Burning," he said with a smirk. Wincing, the Lt Burning then nodded at them, "I'll see you all in the morning."

"I'll assist you—," the Ensign said only to be interrupted by his CO with a sure look.

"I'm fine, Uraki. Go rest," was his reply with a curt nod. "I'm sure you need it after what you've been through. Goodnight." Lt Burning turned his back and simply went on his way.

"Are you sure, sir? Who's going to drive you."

He waved lazily. "I'm sure I can find someone who will," he said before he disappearing on the corner.

"Excuse me, Lt." Uraki went on his way back to the tents hastily built all over the base.

"Hey, Ensign Uraki." Chris' stared at the Ensign as he walked away and she called before he could turn the corner. "Want to join us for a meal?" He knew what Chris was doing. She was not letting him go to his room and spend time with them and others when she had the final say. He ought to protest but by now he was used to her insistence to mingle with others no matter how awkward it would be.

Ensign Uraki for his part didn't know whether to gape or refuse because of his want to be alone as the shame rolled off of him in waves that he flinched. Sayla, he knew, felt it too but only a small twitch came from her.

A small smile found its way on his face as he replied, "can I invite Keith?"

Sayla chuckled. "The more the merrier, Ensign. We'll be waiting in the mess hall."

Kou's heavy emotion was somehow lifted from his being and he was glad that Uraki found little joy to make him forget the pain he felt earlier.

"Come on, Amuro."

He didn't say anything as Sayla entwined his arm with hers and pulled him close to her to lean on him. Waves of soothing emotion helped to push back the continuous bombarding feeling of agony that filled the air. The cries of others —whether it be mourning for a loved one, worrying for who they love, or thanking the Gods for their survival—were silenced and replaced by wordless humming like an ocean wave on a sunny day.

None was said as they went towards the mess hall. Even the emotions the others he met on the hall were heavy that he felt his eyes water and his soul unknowingly pressured by people just with their presence. Whether or not it was his own emotion or not was another matter altogether but he did not care in the slightest now.

The mess hall was empty aside from the chefs and he was thankful for that. Amuro wasn't sure he could handle any more influx of emotions along with his roiling ones. To go along with the silence of the place, what he thought of as a dim light burned his eyes to look at

After getting their food and eating, which Chris sat in front of him and Sayla to his left. He looked down as he ate and grateful for the silence that the two gave him.

His redhead friend cleared her throat. "You know it wasn't your fault," Chris said breaking the silence as she ate.

She said it as if reading his mind. Then again she does know him albeit to a lesser degree than Frau and Sayla during the three years they knew each other so he couldn't be surprised by her. God knows how many times she was there for anything if he —or Sayla for that matter—got a problem.

Poking his food, he ate it slowly and sighed. "Like they said, it was inevitable. Still, between Uraki and I, I'm the more experienced pilot. I should've, could have, handled the situation better." Doubt gnawed at the thought that it cannot be avoided. If he stopped him then all of this would've never happened.

Sayla's hand slowly went for his and gently covered tightly clenched fist. Other than that she said nothing and he was glad for that.

He needed to say it or otherwise, it will pile up once more like before. "I know what you're going to say, guys." He really understood that they meant well but, he could've prevented it. He was sure of it. "But Gato escaping was my fault alone. I helped in the pursuit but didn't do enough."

It was his fault alone. It was his to bear. The thought of him possibly disabling the Physalis before it escaped looped in his mind along with numerous things he could have done to prevent the escape. He defeated numerous enemies before, what made this one different that he escaped!?

He quickly blinked away the wetness that invaded his eyes and shook his head. "Because of me…."

_More blood will be spilled._ His fist shook along with the spoon and fork in his calloused hands.

_It's not your fault_, Sayla's voice said. Despite their distance, the words felt so far yet so close. He blinked when he realized Sayla gently clasped his hand and that he had been staring blankly at nothing.

Breathing deeply for the umpteenth times, he pushed the feelings down. "They're here," he muttered.

On cue, Keith and Uraki entered the hall. Both wore white shirts and standard-issue Federation pants. He was glad that Chris looked away from him as he waved at the two to sit with them as they went to get food.

He could hear Uraki tell the cook "no carrots" which made the cook grunt and caused Kou to gag for a second. Keith snickered at his friend, burying the sadness that in his heart.

On his peripheral on his left, Sayla smiled at him as they continued eating in silence.

When Keith and Uraki got near, the two saluted. Chris simply shrugged them off saying, "no need for formalities. We're all off duty."

The two seated next to Chris. Keith flashed them a small smile while Uraki just ate his food in silence.

Keith elbowed Uraki and said, "Lt. Ray, is it possible to finish the story. You were already on the White Base's escape from Garma Zabi?" The blonde man flashed him a different yet awkward —nonetheless still a genuine —curious smile. He wondered how these two ensigns were doing knowing they lost a friend during their pursuit. Still, that was not why the two were here with them now, so he wouldn't think of it nor would he think of his failure for now because the two needed something; which was to take their mind off their burden even for just one night.

Forcing a smile, he glanced at the other two saying, "if you want, Sayla and Chris could tell their story too." His two friends nodded and he found it lightening that they agreed. "So after we defeated Garma, we were ordered to…"

Amuro continued where he left off. He didn't like to tell his story in its entirety because he sometimes could feel the silent judgment of the others and remembering certain events that affected him, but if it would distract the two from their pain, then maybe he would not complain about it and tell the two before him. The jealousy of others who wanted to personally end some Zeeks didn't help why he was reluctant to tell his experiences to others. He only felt sincere curiosity and nothing else from them and he found that he liked that because it reminded him of his team in Cheyenne. Thus, he continued without reservation and told them about the war from his eyes.

Every now and then while he was talking, Sayla would add her input about something to make things clearer for the others.

When it came to Ryu and Matilda's death, he had to pause for a second and reorient himself. Breathing deeply and smiling at Sayla, he continued. If the two noticed his discomfort, they didn't say anything.

Halfway, he realized that when he sipped the given glass to them by Chris, he nearly spit out the strong throat bitter burning taste that he a second later registered. "Beer?" he asked the woman which merely giggled in amusement.

"Vodka," she said, a smirk adorning her face. "Courtesy of the cook."

Ah, he nodded. That made sense. She must've haggled the man to give her some.

It reminded him when all their team when off duty went into town to drink and he was left with no choice but to go with them because he didn't trust his team not to cause trouble. That got him a splitting headache the next day. He promised himself that he would not be drinking anymore and here was Chris making him get a headache.

Scowling at Chris and not finding it himself to protest, since if she put her mind into it nothing would convince her otherwise, he just drank instead and continued with the story.

Along with his telling, the two asked questions that he answered best as he can without revealing personal things. He was thankful that they only asked about what he did, what he felt when he did a specific action and the strategies they used and not about feelings when they lost people.

By the time he finished, it was already three a.m. and his head throbbed from the god knows how many bottles of liquor they drank and his tongue feeling somewhat dry from all the talking. Uraki was relentless with his questions especially with his experience with the Gundam and Alex. Chris helped answer some of their questions seeing as she was a former test pilot herself before being reassigned on the White Base before the battle A Baoa Qu.

Even if for just a few hours he had distracted the two from their mourning of Lt. Allen, he was grateful that he could help ease the pain of the two. He was grateful to get to know the two test pilots too. Among the two, it was Keith who was the social and talkative one when it comes to conversing with people. Uraki on the other hand—which reminded Amuro of himself—was enthusiastic when it comes to the mechanics of things like Mobile Suits. Amuro even showed him Haro and was shocked when he said to them that he was the inventor of the Haro toy.

Yawning, Sayla stood and groaning as she stretched. He was not surprised that she could hold her own liquor, having known that years earlier. "Ugh. I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired."

Keith, his cheeks red as a tomato, looked like he was ready to sleep on the floor. "He….." He spoke something but most of it lost in his slurred speech. Who knew the Ensign can't handle much, he smirked in amusement. For someone so outgoing and a self-proclaimed ladies man, he got wasted easily. Uraki for his part drank less than his friend and thus was the one supporting his friend. Though basing by the redness of his cheeks, it looked like he too was not a drinker like his friend.

In all of his years alive, Amuro would never think that he would be used to drinking like some of his classmates back in Side 7 considering his love for being alone. Still, if it was with Chris and Sayla? Then he just smiled at that thought of his time with them.

"Do you need help, Uraki?" he offered gesturing at Uraki's friend snoring peacefully being carried.

With his free hand, the Ensign scratched his cheek. "Thanks, Lt, but I don't want to take more of your time."

Uraki waved Amuro's concerns away, but he insisted. "It's fine. I don't mind." He knew where the tents set as temporary barracks were. Plus, part of him doubted Uraki could drive safely.

"You go on ahead guys," he said to his friends.

On the hangar, there was a jeep parked on the side of the hangar bay door. All around, the maintenance team — with Nina ordering them—worked hard on servicing Unit 01.

Besides the unit where the Physalis was before was the Netix armed with only a bullpup and a GM Shield.

Hopping in the car, he drove the two to their quarters.

* * *

By the morning, they were eating when an officer approached them. The somber atmosphere in the mess had him wincing because it usually was where people were rambunctious. Not only that, but he winced at the heavy dark feeling washing all over the place. His experiences of knowing how to handle it was his only defense from being overloaded by the presence everywhere. "Lt. Ray, Mass, and Mackenzie." The officer saluted at them. "Captain Synapse requests your presence."

"We'll be there in five," Chris said.

After eating and a quick brush, they went to see the Captain.

"So," Sayla began, as they walked towards their CO's office. "Why do you suppose Captain Synapse wants to see us."

Amuro shrugged but in his chest, a heavy feeling settled. More like resurfaced from its temporary slumber. He had no idea why the Captain called for them but knowing their predicament it's probably because of his blunder. HQ must've sent some harsh reprimands for the Albion's captain and they were being called to know what the higher-ups thought about them.

He knew that the Captain wasn't mad at him or them for Gato's escape, but still, the paranoid thought persisted.

"No idea," Chris replied coolly shaking her head.

As they now stood before the door, they knocked and the door hissed open. Captain Synapse patiently waited while reading a file.

"Captain," the three of them greeted with a salute.

Captain Synapse smiled a little. "I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here so I'll keep this briefing short." He settled leaning back on his chair with his hands entwined on his lap. "You three have been reassigned by Admiral Revil under my command until the retrieval Unit 02 effective immediately."

That made him go wide-eyed for a minute in wonder. He thought that whatever punishment the HQ would be pass upon them, but instead it was this.

"Retrieve sir?" his redhead friend asked. "What about the other fleets, Captain?"

Amuro saw Captain Synapse's brow furrowed for a second before a neutral professional expression settled. He wondered if the man was great at masking his emotions for he can only feel a small frustration easing off. Perhaps they learned it unconscious as a side effect of a coping mechanism when things go south.

"HQ is of the opinion that we did not do our best to stop Gato. So, we are given the retrieval mission along with some of Vice-Admiral Kowen's and others are in search of the Delaz Fleet. As we speak now, the assigned fleets are combing for space the Delaz Fleet."

"You three, along with three more pilots are assigned to this ship until the mission is complete. The supplies and the three pilots will arrive in a few hours. Any questions."

"How many fleets are searching, sir," Sayla asked stepping forward. He could feel the prickly distaste of Sayla as she said asked her question. She always held distrust against the EFF Top Brass.

It was because it seemed that after the war, those on top showed their true attitude at them. She was thankful for Admiral Revil helping them. They knew they wanted to use him and his abilities, but was wary of him because they can't control him. Their fear, every time he met some officers of high caliber, looked at him in distaste and fear before distancing themselves away from him.

Captain Synapse sighed nearly inaudible, "only three fleets are searching for stolen unit courtesy of Admiral Revil, Vice-Admiral Kowen, and several others. Once we break away from Earth, we'll be escorted by four ships from Admiral Kowen's fleet. The cooperation of the whole fleet right now would not be possible because they are preparing for the Naval Review."

_Plus_, _I don't think the Federation can search for a smaller fleet and sacrifice the patrol of the colonies and the Earth sphere knowing there's still Zeon remnants out there that could join the Delaz Fleet if left unattended._

"Also, it would not be wise when there's still enemy lurking everywhere. We need to be vigilant." Amuro's lips rose a little from being right.

He guessed that it was one of the Top Brass' rational decision with the enemy hiding on Earth and some parts of space. If they focus everything on the search for the Delaz Fleet, they were bound to be caught unaware. They need to be careful in allocating their resources. He was sure the moment they slack off on patrol, the Zeons could strike anywhere.

"Understood, sir," she said falling back in line with them.

With that, they left the Captain's office.

Along the way to the hangar, he raised an eyebrow at the curious actions of Nina when she sprinted towards him while holding a large filled binder. "Lt. Ray!" She said panting a bit.

Looking at his two friends, he was met with blank stares as to what her motive was. Shifting a little, he asked. "Yes?"

"You fought Gato right?" When she asked that, a slight pain rolled on her being when she said this before quickly fading into the depths of her mind. "Would it be okay if I ask if I have your data on the fight?"

Scratching his cheeks, "uh, sure. What for?"

"I would like to compare your pilot data to Ensign Uraki's."

Sayla and Chris looked at him weirdly and Amuro shrugged. "It's fine. I was about to fine-tune the Netix anyway."

Each of them went to their units but Nina accompanied him to his MS. They went their own way since the Pixie and 08th Unit were heavily serviced on the other hangar. Considering that Sayla's unit had the lightest armor among them three with Chris' being the second, it would make sense for it to be maintained than his unit regardless if it was made of Lunar Titanium Alloy or not.

When he entered his cockpit, the woman entered with him. He could hear her mutter, "panoramic cockpit," she said lowly, half impressed or something else with the system. She muttered someone named _Lucette_ having created the panoramic system independent from EFF.

Putting the disc in the console, he typed in the system the recorded data of his fight and the various testing done by Augusta. The minutes went by in silence as he put the data into the disc. Whilst the data was copied into the disc, he checked the systems and the status of the Gundam.

"What do you think of Ensign Uraki," she asked all of a sudden.

"What?" he blinked at the woman beside her. Why would she be asking about the Ensign?

He must've looked more confused than he thought for the woman cleared her throat. "Aren't you three assigned to the Albion to help choose the pilot?" she said raising a brow. "As an experienced pilot, what do you think of him after seeing him fight?"

Ah, _of course_, now he remembered. Of course, Nina would know of their mission. Probably informed by the captain. "Ah," he nodded licking his dry lips. "Well, he certainly has a good eye for Mobile Suits I can tell that much. As for his piloting," he stared at the controls for a second to think about it. "The Ensign has potential seeing as he held off The Nightmare of Solomon for however long before I arrived."

It was not just because of him holding off Gato that made him say that. It was most likely too because he knew the capabilities of Unit 01 that helped on his fight. He could tell from the fight when he arrived that Uraki has the skill and was well trained, but only lacked the necessary experience to push Unit 01 to its fullest. That part, he couldn't blame Uraki for still being a green pilot since it was post-war peace.

He way envious of Uraki for having never fought in the war, but uncertainty swirled in his mind because if he never was never forced to pilot the Gundam then he would've never met the people aboard the White Base. His family.

_I never would've met Sayla__,__ Chris__,__ or the crew of White Base_ A part of him argued and he wasn't sure he liked that. He didn't regret one bit of his experience at the White Base and meeting his friends there. Dark his path that he went through maybe, but he didn't think he can imagine what life would be without them.

Shaking the distraction away, he continued with what he was doing. "Why," was his response. "Thinking of making him the official pilot of it?"

She replied with a curt nod.

Leaning in the seat, he looked at Nina. "Can I at least see the data of Unit 01 before giving you my answer?" When she gave him a suspicious look, and he resisted to roll his eyes. What's he going to do with it, steal it? After what seemed like a long time of judging him, she relented and gave him the data. What he read shocked him. The Ensign did push it well, but it was well beyond what he expected.

The stats had expressed that Kou Uraki had pushed the unit that it nearly reached half its peak. Honestly, it surprised him that he found it unbelievable but the raw data was proof of the man's potential. That was much more than others could do.

Seeing this, he cleared his throat. "This is…" He struggled to think of the words. "This is surprising. I can see why you would recommend him. I wouldn't challenge your decision if you decide now. Just show this to the Captain and I'm sure he'll agree."

Nina lit up when he said that. "And here," he handed the data disc to the woman. "Kou Uraki is a good choice as Unit 01's pilot. I'm sure he can push it to its potential."

When the woman had left, he continued with his systems check.

* * *

Amuro didn't know how much time he spent on helping with the MS maintenance, but by the time he stopped to rest, it was already midday nearing one when he looked at his watch.

"Mora," he called to the head mechanic as he went down on his Gundam. "I'll grab something to eat. Want me to get you some?"

The woman looked up from her work on Unit 01's feet and smiled. "I'd like a sandwich."

"Sayla, Chris," he called to the two still in the cockpit of Unit 01 after the service of each of their Gundam was done. It looked like they were trying out the Gundam. "You want anything?"

Sayla replied loudly, her voice reaching him."I'll have what you're having."

"Surprise me!" was Chris' reply.

After a few minutes, he returned with food on a tray for the whole maintenance staff. Or maybe for most of the staff since they look so tired. They cheered and grinned upon seeing him return with a large selection of food courtesy of the cook who took pity on them.

It somehow warmed him that they could remain happy and find little joy in little things even after what happened last night. The sadness was still there, but it was buried. One of the things he realized he learned during the war but only actually knew it after the war; e_njoy the little things in life._

Mora stood next to him and he blushed at the height difference. She was way taller than any woman he had seen before. He scowled at the knowing amused look Chris and Sayla gave him.

"So," he began and his eyes moved to Zephyranthes then to the men hauling the boxes. It seemed the supplies had arrived then because he doubted the base had those, not after what happened to it. "If we're retrieving Unit 02, why isn't it outfitted for space yet?" He tilted his head towards said unit as he then took a bite of his food.

Mora simply shrugged. "We don't have the parts. It's all on Anaheim, on Von Braun to be exact. All we have are dessert, water, and ice modules for it."

That made sense considering that the two were originally just sent to Earth for gravity testing.

"Don't worry though, Nina already reported the situation to Anaheim and they're sending a ship that'll rendezvous with the Albion once we leave Earth. They'll bring the necessary parts," the tall woman said as if reading his mind. "Nina!" Mora called to the woman still calibrating Unit 01. "The food's getting cold. Better hurry up!"

One of the three passing by them men—wearing an army's uniform that had brown on the torso and light brown sleeves and pants—whistled. Looking at their rank insignia on the shoulder, two of them were 1st Lieutenant and the last one, the Mexican pilot, as a 2nd Lieutenant. "I thought they said only one Gundam since the second one's been stolen? Whatever. That's going to be my unit," the older man which—had brown hair and mustache, and tan skin— pointed with his hand holding the liquor at the Zephyranthes. "You can have that Adel," he said, arrogance in his words pointed at his Netix.

"Oi, Monsha," the man who had the darkest skin among the three who had a mustache said chastising yet amused by his friend. "It's taken. Look at the symbol." He tilted his head at the black outlined stylized _A _symbol, a half-formed star, that was primarily red inside painted on the Netix's left shoulder and shield.

"I don't think I'm familiar with that ace symbol," the tall blond man crossed his arms thinking deeply. "Is it new?"

Chris gave him a knowing look, his symbol—loathed as he was to have one— was new. He had it just a year earlier on the insistence of the base commander and his team. He scowled at Sayla when her amusement echoed in their strange bond. It was supposed to symbolize the first letter of his name that every time they saw that symbol, they would see Amuro Ray. How he hated his team for putting in the symbol without his consent.

"These Gundams are new," the Mexican man said thoughtfully.

"Oh, I see something new alright," his eyes turned at them whistling, specifically glinting at Chris with obvious lecherous intent. His redhead friend scowled and glared at Monsha daring him to say anything. "Hey there." He fixed his hair sauntering towards her. "You a crew on the ship? Thanks for warming up my Gundam. How about I take you to dinner as payment for it."

"I'm sorry," she said smiling sweetly. Too sweet in fact that it'll give any lesser man diabetes from Chris' beauty. "I don't date old men. No energy if you know what I mean." Her gaze turned downwards and then shrugged. This Monsha guy stopped and gape at her.

Amuro had to stifle his laugh at the man's disbelief expression. Both he's and Sayla's eyes wrinkling in amusement as they glaced for a second.

"Plus." Walking slowly toward Amuro, she clung to his arm. "I'm already taken." Amuro had to blush but he knew she was just playing him. Looking at Sayla, her eyes she was stifling her laughter. "You know how young men are, easily excitable and full of energy."

Mora smiled at him. Or a smirk was more like it. All around people muttered "ooh!"

He gawked at the two of them. "With that pipsqueak?!" he said pointing at him incredulously.

Pipsqueak? Maybe before he piloted the Gundam, he admits to himself. His piloting during the war and training after that had him developing his physique more. Plus, in his honest assessment of himself, he grew taller. "Yes." He raised his eyebrow in a challenge. "Got a problem with that?"

"You know," Sayla took his other arm and leaned on it. "He may not look like it but he does have muscles hidden by the uniform. Much more than I can say for your ancient body."

"Why you!" Monsha turned red glaring at Amuro. "Tch," he spat and turned.

Monsha glared at him and grumbled walking away and towards the Gundams. His two friends laugh at Monsha's plight who's grumbling still reached them.

"Sorry Sayla," Chris looked at him abashed. "I've seen guys like him before. I'd rather be hit by Captain Synapse or Lt. Burning than him. Guys like those don't know when to quit."

Before Sayla could reply, people were approaching them.

"Mora! Lt. Mora!" one of the female mechanics called running towards Mora. "Have you seen a pilot with brown hair?"

"Monsha? Why?" Mora asked. "He's over there checking at Unit 01."

The woman's glare intensified at the man. "Why I oughta! He groped us!"

"He's gonna pay for it!"

"What! Nina," she said clearly alarmed and glowered at the three. "Sorry you three, lunch's over." She marched to the officer using the lift going towards Nina. He didn't know whether to wince or laugh because of what's about to happen as Mora and the girls marched towards the three.

"Monsha's done it," Sayla commented smirking with mirth in her voice.

"Hey, you old pervert!" Mora called Monsha folding her sleeves showing her impressive muscle that he couldn't help but admire. "Why'd you grope my girls!" Her scream echoed on the hangar that the others turned to the brewing situation."Why don't you touch someone your own size, you lech!"

The lift lowered while he replied, "who'd want to touch you, you giant amazon."

"Say that to me again, I dare you."

When the lift finally reached the floor, Monsha walked towards Mora. Without warning, Monsha was thrown onto the ground without warning. The impact was loud enough to echo in the hangar and he winced at seeing that. _Who knew Mora is that strong?_

"Remind me not to make her mad," he whispered to Sayla and Chris whose gaze was affixed to the short brawl as he was.

"I don't think any of us want to make an enemy of her," Sayla shivered.

* * *

After servicing the units and the beating of Monsha, he helped in giving out supplies. There were many injured soldiers that were still to be given treatment and he could feel the pain others that stood before the dead. He avoided gazing at the bodies covered in white sheets all arranged.

Stopping at the medical tents, he carried the boxes to the tents. "Here you go," he said handing it out which the nurse accept thankfully. Looking around, there were a lot of beds and he could see the despondent expressions of some of the soldiers. It made him smile that the others were still able to laugh with their friends.

"Lt. Ray," Amuro turned to see Ensign Keith and Uraki. Briefly saluting at the two, he smiled at them. "What're you doing here," Keith asked.

"Where are Lt. Mackenzie and Mass?" Uraki added.

"Oh, they're helping service the MS back at the ship. As for me being here, I'm helping by doing supply runs." Smirking at the two, he then said, "feeling fine already, Keith? You were pretty wasted last night."

Keith laughed awkwardly. "Head's still in pain. Just drank some pain relievers. I think I'm gonna sleep this one later."

"So much for being such a ladies' man, huh," he grinned. "I don't think they'd like a man who can't handle his drinks."

Clapping Keith's shoulder, he was about to open the tent open when Uraki called him. "Wanna see Lt. Burning with us before you leave?"

Thinking about it for a second, he shrugged and accepted the invitation. He should at least check on the older man if he's okay or not before continuing on his orders.

They saluted at the older man which he kindly reciprocated.

"Lt. Burning, it's good, we're glad you're fine," Keith said, a little smile on his lips.

The man grinned. "Don't worry 'bout it you two. It'll take more than a broken leg to kill me!" The man laughed earning the strange looks of the nurses. "I'll see you two fly high before I'll allow anything to end me."

"Nice to see you, Lt Burning," Amuro greeted. "How are you feeling, sir?"

"Leg's feeling fine already, no need to worry boys. In fact, I feel good as new." The man grinned.

Keith let out a large relieved breath and smiled. "That's good, sir, though I doubt your leg's fine now. I bet you can't walk it off yet."

"Not yet I can't. But I'll be out in no time and you can bet your ass that I'll be training you two harder!"

The curtain opened suddenly and Amuro's hand automatically went to his firearm only to release it when he saw it was just the three pilot they met earlier. He smirked when he noticed Monsha's black eye on his left eye.

Said man twitch when he glanced at him before ignoring him completely.

"You guys!" Lt. Burning exclaimed happily. "What're you doing here!"

"We're the reinforcements." The blond man said.

Amuro quietly exited the scene before he could be noticed. Plus, he still had to deliver the supplies to the others.

Looking at the watch, it took half an hour for him to complete the job. Australia was hotter during the afternoon than in America so he was heading to the mess for a drink when he saw Monsha and the other two men were at the mess talking to Uraki and Nina. Anger rolled off the Ensign in his glare at the older man.

Approaching them, he said, "any problem?" He said observing them all calmly. Monsha glared at him and the other two gave him an interested look.

"None, Lt," Uraki stated quickly after saluting at him. "1st Lt Monsha was just introducing himself."

Monsha huffed rolling his eyes then smirked. "Oh, look, the White Devil. I thought you would be older, not a schoolboy."

Amuro snorted as a response. Oh believe him, he had that reaction often and was used to it by now. He had worse welcoming from his team and the others back in Cheyenne. "I often get that." Often was an understatement, more like all the time. Everyone he met either didn't believe he was an Ace pilot or shocked that a known pilot such as him was younger than they expected. Not that he blamed them for that.

"1st Lieutenant Bate, nice to meet the White Devil in personal." The tallest among the three introduced himself. The man held himself with confidence, but he noticed that he was a bit more relaxed and more friendly than Monsha who irritated him with his arrogance. "This is 2nd Lt. Adel," he pointed with his thumb at the black-haired and mustached man. "We're the Albion's pilots now."

Monsha harrumphed. "Ace pilot, a load of bullshit. It's because of the Gundam that he got many kills. If HQ gives me one, no doubt I'll have twice as many Zeeks than him and greenhorn here."

"Not only that, if I was the one on the Gundam no doubt I would have stopped Gato."

Anger swelled in his chest and his fingers stiffened but he breathed deeply. It was an easy statement to say but he knew it was harder to do the more he thought about the situation. He pushed down the ugly feeling that reared itself up gradually.

Uraki winced making Nina glare at the man. "Lt! You don't know anything about! Uraki is a better pilot than you are."

"Oh, ho, ho,…" The smirked Monsha gave made Amuro want to darken the pervert's other eye but he held himself back. No need to get himself in trouble. He remembered the time when he was sent to the brig during the war and winced recalling Bright's slap. "Care to bet on that? How about Ensign Uraki and I do a combat simulation and if I win, I get to pilot the Gundam. If I lose, I'll gladly put in a good word for him to the Captain."

He'd like to see him try, he rolled his eyes. Clearing his throat, he got the man's attention. "Only Christina, Sayla, and I are allowed to do that. Orders from the Admiral himself." He said shrugging as if it was nothing and loving the way the man looked at him in disbelief.

"Yes, it's the original reason they are here," Nina added. "They were ordered to choose the pilots of Unit 01 and 02 here on Torrington base."

"Ooh, someone's a favorite," Monsha mumbled through gritted teeth. "I bet you rose through rank because of that."

The urge to punch the man was increasing! He wanted to punch his other eye. If he rose through the ranks because he was a favorite then the shit that happened on Luna II wouldn't have happened. Or there would be no steely or wary looks pointed at him if that was the case.

"Oi, Monsha," Adel chastised. "Stop antagonizing the Lt. He's one of the pilots here. We don't need you making an enemy of him."

"Heh, that pipsqueak a pilot? I'll believe it when I see it."

"You weren't there when he fought Gato!" Uraki replied screaming. "He fought Gato to a standstill!"

"Really, I like to see that," he sarcastically replied with a snort. "Let's change the bet, you and Uraki fight me. If I win, recommend me to pilot your Gundam, if you win, I'll do anything you want for a week."

He was about to say that he couldn't pilot the Netix, but thinking of what he just said if he won made him a bit hesitant to refuse. Call him childish but he just couldn't resist it.

"Make it fair," Nina said. "Have one of your friends back you up."

"If you're sure," he smirked flashing his sharp tooth. "C'mon Bate, let's show these kids how's it done."

* * *

One look at the GM Custom and Amuro already knew that the Gundam Alex had some influence in its design. After piloting that Gundam for about almost three years, he knew it inside and out. Getting into Burning's GM Custom, with Mora's permission, of course, he contacted the bridge. He saw Adel, Sayla, and Christina getting into a jeep that was parked near the exit.

"Bridge, this is Lt. Ray," he said to the operator, Peter Scott. "Is the Captain on there?"

Captain Synapse's face appeared on the monitor. "Lt. Ray, any problems?"

Looking straight into his CO's eyes, he prepared himself to what he was gonna say. "Ensign Uraki and I invited 1st Lt Monsha and Bate to a combat training, sir. I'm piloting Lt Burning's GM."

He felt his sweat slowly sliding off his face as he waited for the response. "Permission granted," Captain Synapse nodded and for a minute he thought that he would have to argue why they needed to do this. "I'll have Ensign Keith pick up Burning and observe the simulation."

"Roger that." He saluted. The Captain said something to Simone but immediately cut off the contact. He walked towards the lift followed by Lt. Monsha.

When he reached the top, the launch deck rose and unfolded. On his right was a big monitor of the countdown. "Amuro Ray, GM Custom launching!" Stepping on the pedals, the force of the launch sent him against the chair.

He softened his landing by activating the thrusters. It was only half a year ago that he got the Netix and he was already used to its cockpit! He felt discomfort from piloting a tight standard cockpit whereas the Panoramic cockpit helped not only in expanding his consciousness in some way by being able to see everything inside the MS. It was also a much effective MS cockpit. That was not to say he was complaining about the tightness of the cockpit. For god's sake, he piloted the Gundam which all the GM's cockpit was based on.

He really just became easily used to the newer styled cockpit which had more sight coverage than the standard ones.

Testing the arm, and he immediately knew that the suit's reaction time would be a problem for him because he knew he was used to the faster reaction of the Alex and Netix. The GM simply couldn't keep up with his reflex even with one specialized as this one. It was one of the reasons why he was given the Alex after all. Well, that was not to say the GM Custom was a bad unit. In fact, it was quite the opposite but it lacked the specs to keep up with him.

Still, so far it had one of the best performance out of all the GM's he tried. The only ones that got near were so few like the GM Sniper Custom and GM Sniper Custom II were among those.

The GM Custom was good, but he knew that it wasn't fast or good enough to follow his reflexes. Still, the suit's reaction time, speed, and mobility were the best among all the GM the Federation had now, so it was better than nothing.

Being in the standard cockpit reminded Amuro of the times Augusta Lab had him pilot a basic GM in a mock fight against GM variants to see how fast he can react while wearing a helmet connected to a CAT specially installed in the cockpit that scanned his brain.

Pressing the monitor, he was quick to change the setting of the MS. With the unit temporarily on manual mode, this meant that he was less dependent on the preset moves like it usually was making him able to move without impunity.

On the far right, Uraki's unit landed and they proceeded to a derelict ship just a mile north of the base. The radar detected the two catching up to them and the comm activated a second later.

"Prepare yourself, greenhorns," 1st Lt Monsha said assuredly, his arrogance and overconfidence emanating from his thoughts freely. "I ain't holding back."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he muttered. Even in first time training his team never did he take it easy on them.

"Can't wait to face the "White Devil," Bate said, his words echoing with excitement. Amuro couldn't deny that there was an uncertain feeling of excitement filling him at the thought of facing experienced pilots, but he didn't feel excited as these two were. He couldn't.

He said nothing in return as he opened a private communication to Kou. They needed a plan. These guys were more experienced than both of them combined. "Ensign," he began. "Tell me about your skills."

* * *

They arrived at a part of the plains where whatever remained of a city laid in ruins. It's sad to think that people used to live here, among the debris and ruin that was once called Sydney. He shivered from the heavy feeling that washed and settled over the whole site that his hair stood erect just being in the vicinity. He didn't find comfort from his surroundings.

Shaking the… whatever it was off of him, he gathered himself by breathing deeply and blocking out the external influence that the place seemed to emit. To a certain extent, the heavy feelings subsided.

The four of them, with their pair, stood meters apart near a domed structure.

"Alright, the rules are simple…," Adel stated as he explained the rules of the live training. The last team standing, whether it was one or all, wins. A hit to other parts will cause said part to be automatically nonfunctional as to make it more realistic.

Anxiety and fear rolled off of Uraki like a river in a storm that it disconcerted him. "Calm down, Ensign," he said slowly to his partner. "Breathe deeply and forget everything. Think nothing but the task at hand and you'll get through this."

He knew what Uraki was feeling. It was the same uncertainty and doubt gnawing within himself like his earlier sorties on the Gundam. It may have cooled off somehow during the war and post-war, but it was just always on the shadows of his heart ready to strike him anytime. It never really left him.

He didn't wait for a response as he continued, "just as we discussed, we'll take on one of them at the same time. Leave the distracting of the other to me and hold on. We clear?"

That may have been the plan, but he knew it wouldn't be without a hitch.

"Roger," his partner said unsurely.

When the gun went off, he went in front of Uraki taking off the brunt of the attack of Monsha who ran and went behind a building piece to his right. He fired at Bate, but the man avoided and danced around his shots hiding closer Monsha's left.

This was what they wanted, for them to overextend themselves and snap the trap.

Calling for Uraki to retreat, he covered his teammate and kept providing cover fire. A GM jumped out on his left, just near where Bate was and he blinked when the suit jumped blocking out the sun then when he looked up. Raising his shield, he blocked the attack from above as he fired where Monsha was.

Another fire came behind him. He boosted back when bullets came from his right and the other GM that dropped on the ground came for him swinging the sword. Gritting his teeth, he exchanged his rifle for the sword in time to meet the strike but his suit was still sent back skidding.

_Damn_, he cursed. Quickly folding the sword, he raised his shield to block the shots of Bate who then dashed to the debris on the right. Monsha on the left, gunned him which he blocked too.

Behind his shield, he fired back in retaliation. He and Monsha dueled with their rifle, each shot delaying the other in their approach. Looking back, Uraki was now being pressured by Bate who reached him and strike with guerrilla-style attacks. He would attack only to dash for the nearest cover

Amuro jumped back and changed his weapons for the melee one before backflipping midair dodging Monsha's bullets. When he landed, Monsha was already on him, but he kicked the shield forcing the MS back and then swung his saber making his opponent lean back to avoid the faux weapon. He took his chance swinging once more only for the other to block it with his own saber. He kicked the hand sending the saber flying. As he turned, he kicked the shield making the MS fall and dashed towards his partner before Monsha could recover.

He could see the battle of the two gradually going far away behind him. Monsha's annoyance could be felt, unlike Bate's composure. Dashing left for cover, shots rang against the metal. He knew a reprieve when he sees one, so Amuro put the throttle on maximum going through and around debris as the other searched for him.

_Hang in there__,__ Uraki. _He thought with grim determination.

_There! _He could now see Uraki fighting a long-range battle.

Quick as he could, he jumped out of his cover and fired at Bate who then reversed. When he landed near the other GM Custom, he ran and swung the sword at Bate who slightly turned swiftly and blocked it with his shield.

Gunfire then came from his right and he rolled back time to avoid the ambush of second GM that came out of nowhere. When he regained his footing, he threw his shield at Monsha and using that moment to dash to him whose attention was at the thrown shield. The shield flew true to his target. His free hand drew the gun and shot Bate whilst Uraki was striking him close. He ducked, rolled, and jumped towards Monsha then swinging when got near. The other GM raised its shield in turn.

Amuro smiled in triumph when the left arm of Uraki's opponent's left arm stopped moving like a marionette losing its string and dropped the shield. A brief surge of something echoed from Amuro's enemy.

He heard Uraki scream going for the kill but didn't see it as he turned his focus on Monsha whose anger was palpable. He kicked the shield down and activated the thrusters then firing at the MS below him. Turning, he covered fire for his partner causing the other to dodge the shots among the littered metal everywhere, but still, he kept getting closer at Uraki while firing in return at him.

He leaned back to evade it and activated all thrusters slowing his descent. He raised his shield and dodged left towards a debris and skidding in the ground when his opponent shot back. He knew he had the advantage of mobility without the shield, but he was defenseless against the two. That was covered by Uraki fighting the one-armed Bate. And based on Uraki's combat data, he had a feeling he can sufficiently duel the other pilot no problem thus making his role of dealing with Monsha easier now.

"Ensign, cover your left," he ordered and his ally did raise his shield as blood-red paint then colored the shield.

Amuro dashed towards Bate, and Uraki other dashed to his left, to Monsha, who sped up incoming between him and Bate. He swung the sword but stopped mid-attack and sidestepping to the left as bullets passed by.

"Lt!" Uraki screamed. "Watch out!"

His sword met the shield of Monsha all of a sudden, but he had to dash back, and fired simultaneously, but his other hand fired the gun point-blank making GM drop the shield to block his peppering shots.

Uraki shot from 1st Lt Monsha's side but stopped when Bate's sword made a sweeping pass by him.

Swinging his sword hand, but still shooting, Amuro made his enemy roll left and with a powerful swing he sent the shield flying away but his eyes widened when a kick had him falling to the ground! His quick reaction was the only thing that saved him from a range follow up attack.

The thrusts held him aloft a few feet of the ground and then pushed himself back while firing at Monsha, but his enemy evaded most of his shots. He too sidestepped the attacks of Monsha and gaining a flare of something negative come from the opponent. Without warning, Amuro dashed forward and dodged every shot as he rolled left and quickly jumped as his instinct indicated. The bullets grazed him by mere inches, but he couldn't help but smirk when he landed and sent the gun flying with a single swing and the right arm became limp as he didn't waste the chance to shoot point-blank on the chest.

The visor lights turned off and the whole unit stood unmoving.

Amuro turned to see the duel of Uraki and Bate. The Ace pilot still held off his partner despite losing one arm. His form was good and left Uraki with no opening.

Uraki swung his sword downwards and Bate sidestepped and dashed away from Unit 01.

"Ensign—"

"Don't," Uraki interrupted. "I can do this!" Practice saber drawn, he rushed at Bates who deflected the downward swing followed by a stab but Unit 01 blocked it with the shield and pushed it.

The GM Custom jumped back away from Unit 01 and landed on the building. He was quick to draw on the gun and fired at Uraki who followed. He was about to warn Uraki but Bate boosted down with beam sabers while firing the thrust. He flinched when their MS fell and Uraki's thrusters lit up and tried to roll but couldn't. The ground trembled and rocks came flying everywhere when the two fell the same time as dust. When the dust settled, the GM was already up in front of an already kneeling Unit 01 without the shield, the held saber, and rifle. Somehow in their falling scuffle, the weapons were lost.

Uraki drew the last practice saber and stood. He had to hand it to Bate, the man earned his way right to pilot the GM Custom. The time the two had staring each other down felt long but finally, Uraki rushed forward holding the sword two-handed!

Every swing of Uraki was either deflected or evaded by the more experienced Bate who was also left unable to attack by Unit 01's ferocity. With each powerful swing, the 1st Lieutenant drew closer. The GM did a simple but deft upward swing, but the Gundam was quick to sidestepped and spun placing himself on the GM Custom's right. Bate was quick to react at the Zephyranthers', still, it sent Bate's remaining weapon flying and landing far away behind them. The sword's tip pointed at the cockpit.

Amuro smirked when he saw the fist mere inches at the others' cockpit. Silence reigned and only the ragged breath of Uraki broke the silence.

"Did I," Uraki breathed deeply to pause, "win?"

* * *

Hope you like this. :D


	4. Chapter 4

Yes! Two chapters in one upload. hehe.. I hope I did the fight justice and their introduction right in the last chapter. I did the best I could and hope you enjoy the chapter. Anyways, on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gundam franchise and anything related to it. This is solely for entertainment.

* * *

"You two lost," Lt. Burning said over the radio. He felt the smirk behind the voice. "And beaten badly. Your age catching with up you two?"

Bate opened a visual contact with him, his face appearing on the left small monitor above smirking. "The Ensign had the better MS, Burning."

Sayla may have never said anything but the satisfaction pointed at Monsha rolled off her being easily. The same could be said about Chris who enjoyed the defeat of his enemy earlier.

"They got lucky," Monsha grumbled. "Next time I ought'a…"

Amuro didn't hear the rest but he bet that the 1st Lt was sore about his defeat against him.

"No," the Lt replied. "You two got overconfident because all you saw were two young men who you underestimated and thought was easy to defeat. It wasn't luck that he defeated you in the same suit. Don't forget that Lt. Amuro earned the name,_ The White Devil_ from the Zeeks for a reason. Ensign Uraki, on the other hand, held off Gato even for a little while in Unit 01. That alone speaks of his potential."

True, it spoke of Uraki's potential when he held off the Zeon Ace even if he was toying with him. Not only that, the stats recorded showed that the man showed untapped skills within him as he pushed the Gundam near its half limit. If allowed to prosper, Amuro could see Uraki being a good pilot.

"I admit," Bate shrugged. He looked easy about the fact that he lost to two younger men, unlike his partner. "I didn't expect much from _The White Devil_ and the Ensign from the start but they deliver so he got me. If there's a next time I won't lose to them."

"I learned from the best, sir," Uraki saluted at Bate.

The blond man bellowed that the voice echoed in his cockpit. "I expected that much," he said between laughs. "Burning is one to make sure his team listens and understands to him."

"Just like training during the war, eh Burning?" Adel said. "Remember when we're still getting used to the GM's? What chaos."

Bate's laughter echoed. "Try hell. Learning the control of the GM in a rush was torture."

Amuro remained silent on the way back to the ship, content to listen at the others' bickering.

It was a nice sight to see the camaraderie of the soldiers as they gave out the newly arrived supplies and still searched for survivors by the time they arrived on the base. This was what humanity was supposed to be like. Why was there a need—or maybe want—for humans to fight each other? Nothing was felt aside for the need to help their fellow humans.

By the time they arrive on the ship, freshen up, and come to the Captain's office and report how the live combat simulation went, Monsha was still looking sour.

Every pilot was lined up behind the crutch using Lt Burning who sat before their CO.

"Burning," the Albion's captain paused leaned forward with his lower face covered by the entwined hands. "What do you think of the result of the battle."

"They all performed admirably beyond expectations. Even Ensign Uraki." the older pilot replied words clipped. "Nina Purpleton was right to choose him as Unit 01's test pilot."

"I see," the Captain's lips raised slightly as he said this. "It's good to see such potential in young pilots."

"And how was the experience fighting against "The White Devil." There was no question as to whom that question was pointed at. Amuro smirked, almost, when the 1st Lt's face morphed to annoyance for a second before turning neutral.

"The brat's good." He snuffed his disdain unhidden for them to see but he could sense it. "He earned the name alright."

"And Ensign Uraki?"

Bate cleared his throat quietly and spoke, "Ensign Uraki has skill. He just needs more training and experience because his strikes were oftentimes wide and predictable and waste bullets." The blond 1st Lt looked like he wanted to say more but pursed his lips shut.

"Good. That's good," the Captain nodded. "What are your thoughts about the GM Custom?" Captain Synapse's eyes glanced at him for a second like a trick of the eye.

"It's a good unit, sir. The unit is very balanced and could match the performance of the first Gundam if the pilot knows how to use it." Not one word was a lie because he could even compare the unit to the original Gundam in terms of performance. The only drastic difference was the armor, but that was what the shield was for. Other than that, if given to an Ace pilot no doubt it could be lethal.

Why was the Captain asking that though? Maybe the Top Brass had someone knocking some sense into them to replace the badly aging GM Type C? If they do, then maybe the Federation would be well equipped to search and fight the Zeon Remnants lurking in the shadow.

"That's good," Captain Synapse replied nodding curtly and taking the file with data disc that from Lt. Burning. "I'll relay that to Admiral Revil. I'm sure that Augusta Labs would appreciate that report."

Augusta Labs created the GM Custom? That's a surprise. Though he supposed he shouldn't be since the Alex—which the unit resembled—was made there too.

After that, they were all given off duty since the ship would be taking off in a few hours and rendezvous with the flotilla to search for the Delaz Fleet's hideout.

"So," Keith started, "we have a few hours before we leave. What're you guys gonna do?"

Monsha took a large swig from his flash Amuro didn't know the older had in his pocket and gave them a dirty look. "Heh, I'm gonna go score some action, 'cause that's what real men do." He sneered before walking away.

Sayla's face scrunched in obvious annoyance while Chris glared at the man.

"Don't let it get to your head, ensign," the blond man shrugged patting Uraki's shoulders. "If it wasn't for the Lt. here," he glanced and pointed at him for a second, "I doubt you could've defeated me with both arms intact."

"Noted sir," said the ensign with his face scowling slightly at Bate and Adel before the two followed their friend.

Chris smiled at Unit 01's pilot. "Don't let him get to you. It was obvious that you have defeated him."

It sure looked like that earlier, and now that he thought about it, Amuro felt bad for ruining Uraki's chances of proving himself. He shouldn't prove himself, but he'd been through there to know that the face he made earlier was one seeking to prove not only to himself but to others as well.

"You don't need to rise to Monsha's baiting," he said hoping his words would get through. "You don't even need to prove yourself to him. You're a good pilot and don't let anybody say otherwise."

Uraki looked down fists clenched. "Kou," Keith said. "Look—"

"If I am such a good pilot then that Komusai wouldn't have escaped! Lt. Allen would've lived! We could've captured Gato and retrieve Unit 02! If I was such a good pilot then…"

_None of this would have happened! _He knew was the ensign's unspoken words and he felt the same really. If Uraki felt that way then what more for him? He was the more experienced between the two of them.

He reeled back from the volume and breathed deeply. There was no use shouting back. Kou Uraki was still mulling on past events. He was too but it seemed the words of Lt. Burning and Captain Synapse was not getting through enough.

"It's not your fault," Amuro began. "You were facing an ace. Your chances of defeating him were the same as me when I first fought _The Red Comet_. The fault lies with me. Don't push yourself too hard about this." To defeat Gato on the first try would be a miracle.

He ignored the sharp looks his two friends gave him and the guilt swelling within his chest. "Don't sweat about it," he said lastly before turning and leaving them and silently apologizing to Sayla for his rude exit. He needed to rest.

* * *

_Bright light flashed in the gray clouds that blocked the sky as he stood before an old building that was built a hundred years before the declaration of Universal Century calendar._

_The building looked like a house owned by a millionaire that had long and important history on it it's very well designed and artistic columns with indentations__,__ big windows__,__ and expensive materials from the roof to glass. He wished his visit would be easier but it wasn't. This was not just some ordinary visit or tour. This was him visiting one of the few people he loved in his life that he had taken for granted._

_"Would things have changed if he had been careful?" he muttered letting the heavy feeling of guilt and shame in his chest go unimpeded. _

_St. Peter's Mental Institution__,__ he silently read the name with the very curvy and fancy font above the door. _

_The door creek open as he entered and a nurse was already there waiting at the desk a few meters away from the door. Aside from the desk on the center of the hall__,__ the entrance was barren and giving the place an eerie feeling especially with the few lights used._

_Amuro steeled himself as he approached the nurse. "Hi__,__" he flashed an easy-going smile and showed his credentials. "I'm Amuro Ray__,__ I'm here to visit Tem Ray."_

_The nurse whose name tag says_ "_Millie" smiled maybe recognizing him. "Amuro Ray__,__" she muttered checking through the database. "Oh! the son__,__" she said pleasantly while pressing a button. _

_"Is my father okay?" he asked his bow furrowing. _

_"Yes__,__" she replied. "More than okay. The doctor can explain more on the way." Can he hoped that everything will be alright? No__,__ he can't let himself be full of it only to come crashing down later._

_Thunder boomed._

_He found himself floating in a dark starry space. _

_A bright light in the distance made him cover his eyes. _

_"Amuro."_

_"Amuro!"_

_An echoing cry came all around him. Oh, the voice was ever so soft and gentle as the day they had met. He covered his ears__,__ yet it still persisted in penetrating his hearing! _

_He could feel a gentle spirit full of compassion and understanding wash over his being. Silent cries of forgiveness came upon him and nothing he did ever let it go away._ _It was tempting to follow it but he couldn't! He shouldn't for he was not worthy of it._

_"Amuro__,__ let yourself free!" _

_"Free?" he shook his head at hearing his voice. "Free from what__,__ Lalah!?" _

_Bright light coalesced in front of him lighting the darkness all around that even closing his eyes did nothing to impede its blinding presence. He saw the form of a woman gradually taking shape._

_"Stay away from me!" he repeated but it was a futile effort for the being drew closer to him until it surrounded his very being. _

_"Be free." _

His eyes shot open and blinked at the ceiling of his dark room. Why did he dream of _those times_ of all things. He'd rather dream of that time he died during the war than that! Both were nightmares in their own right for and gave him nothing small hope for a bleak future, and the other was nothing but regret and sadness that could crush him anytime he thought about it.

Why did it have to be now of all times!

_It must be the space! _Was his conclusion.

It made sense since this was where she… no! Space was where it all began. His journey on it made him who he was now. It was the only reason that would make sense. He can't help but shiver at feeling her presence.

He hoped that her presence would fade and leave him be!

It was already a quarter to seven when he glanced at the clock. Knowing it was useless to sleep once more—not that he would want to do it now—, he opened the drawer and got his laptop out before dressing himself and heading to the mess hall. The chaotic mess of other thoughts would bury his nightmare.

Looking at the mess, the other two were missing and he wondered where they were. Ignoring the stares of the other crew on him, he sat down on the corner far away from the chatter but just loud enough for him to retain his focus away from any unwanted things.

Their ETD to the rendezvous point was 0750 hours at a standard pace. That meant they were already ascending now. Since they traveled at standard speed, then that meant they'd approximately exit the atmosphere in about fifteen to thirty minutes or so. He still had time before they rendezvous with the ships in orbit.

After getting his food, he sat and opened an unfinished schematics of his Mobile suit, with the designation RX-00 as its temporary name. It was still barely halfway finished with the plan still lacking specific details and parts on the arms and torso. He based some of the design of this unit on the eight RX units of the V Project. There was more to work on it but he was taking it slow and doing it between his duties and spending time with his friends.

Keith and Uraki came into view and saluted to him. Gesturing at the empty space in front of him, the two sat down. He wondered where Sayla and Chris were. Usually the two—with their team back on Cheyenne—would join him during dinner since that's the only time they would be off duty.

"Are you feeling okay now, ensign?"2`

Keith looked at his friend in concern who avoided their gaze. "Yes, sir."

"I hope so," he replied but he knew that he wasn't. The worry from the blond was a big sign aside from the negative emotion rolling off him in waves. No words could convince him he knew for only Uraki, in the end, could stop his doubt. "And just call me Amuro. So," he paused hoping for a topic to come to mind. "How do you think did you fair on the training."

Most of all, Amuro wanted to ask if did he coddled him too much in the training by not trusting him to accomplish his part.

"Just call me Kou too, si—Amuro," Uraki scowled pushing the carrots aside. "Fine."

"Are you mad?" he asked bluntly causing Uraki to blink at him. Hell, even Keith looked at him strangely.

"Mad?" Zephyranthes' pilot spluttered on his food and he beat his chest hard. "What? About what?" he said after gulping a huge amount of water.

"Mad," he looked him dead in the eye. "Are you mad because I interfered in your fight. I know you wanted to prove yourself to them."

"Uh… my…," he stuttered but shook his head and scowled looking elsewhere but him. "Not really. Just… mad at myself. That I needed help and distracting you during your fight. That I needed help both times."

Amuro's chest lightened from the shame he didn't know he had that. He breathed deeply feeling his chest lighten. "Still, sorry 'bout earlier. I knew you could handle it but I interfered."

"No, really, it's fine with me. I'm not sure I handle that fight well." Uraki forced a smile before putting aside all the carrots on his plate. "I couldn't handle the 1st Lt. even in a Gundam."

"No, it's not fine," he replied somewhat assertive. Even if the Ensign was fine with it, it was not with him. He knew that Uraki's doubt in himself would double if he can't see an obvious result in his demand for improvement. "I'll make it up to you by helping you two train. I'll even try to have the others join in too if I can. That is if you're okay with it." He cleared his throat.

"We trained for years and I don't see much improvement," he said with fists tightening and face morphing to a scowl. "If it wasn't for me..."

"But Kou," Keith argued. "He's an experienced pilot! You aren't. Even Lt. Ray didn't beat Char in his first try."

"Listen to Keith," Amuro stated. "You're already a good pilot, all you need is experience as with all things. I didn't reach where I am now that quick, trust me on this one."

"But you did!" Uraki shot back standing up only to sit when the others turned to him curiously. "It's known that Side 7 was attacked on September. But by December you were already skilled to defeat the _Black Tri-Stars_, _Blue Giant_, and even _The Red Comet_."

"That's…," he wanted to say different but that doesn't explain much. He can't say it's his _Newtypism_ too. That would mean that he was born different, which he wasn't, and that whatever skills he had would be impossible to attain. "I fought for my…. our survival. It's different," was his reply. "All of us were forced to rapidly grow or die in the heat of battle. Every mistake, victory experienced we soaked in quickly and turned it to wisdom to never repeat the same mistake in battle."

Images of what harrowing experience the people of White Base had to go through came to him. So many times where they were behind enemy lines and death had come for them that it was almost a miracle the ship lasted until A Baoa Qu. Every slash, every shot, and everything he did was a fight for his and the White Base's life. "Anybody's skill would grow if they were chased by Zeon's most skilled ace nonstop. Trust me, you don't want that."

He gazed into the distance behind the other two and imagined the memories of the war flashing on the wall like a projector.

"Plus," he shook his head, "that didn't happen overnight. Our point still stands."

"Just count yourself lucky that you have Lt. Burning to teach you," he added shivering from the memories. "We had no one and had to learn things the hard way. Don't be impatient, I can see the skills taught to you. You're doing well."

Just noticing now, the three sat far away from them and Monsha huffed looking away in annoyance. "You'll reach it someday, I can promise you that." Uraki looked elsewhere face scrunch deeply in thought.

"What're you doing, Lt?" Keith curiously asking pointing to the laptop.

"This, not much," Amuro shrugged. "I said that my father was the head engineer of the V Project, right?" He looked around in caution and did not wait for their response before continuing. "I'm designing my own MS. I already know how machines work thanks to dad and by studying it. Not to mention I learned a lot during the war when I helped with the maintenance of the Gundam. So, here I am using that knowledge to make myself one."

He was not going to mention the classified things like thanks to his few connections in the Federation he had the highly encrypted copies of the V Projects from the original prototype unit to Unit 08 and the variants. Not to mention the data about newtype machines from Augusta too. It was thanks to Admiral Revil's kindness that he got it on the condition that he didn't show the files to anyone but certain individuals involved in its research and production or else he'd have to rely on his memory on his way to military prison.

Uraki's eyes widened and nearly choked on his obvious excitement. "Can…," he scratched his nape awkwardly and turned to Keith who was ignoring his friend to eat. "Can we see it?"

Amuro really didn't know. It was not done yet. Not much to see and talk about. Well, except for the partial design he supposed. He was still working on the inner parts, like which thing goes where, needed on the upper body after all. Deciding to let them see it, he turned the laptop to them.

The two remained silent as they observed the drawing. Kou was suppressing his excitement on seeing his work while Keith tilted his head to the right while his brows met as he squinted at it.

"This is…," the blond smiled but he knew it was forced just to be polite.

"It's alright," he told Keith before shrugging. "I get you. It's still even not halfway done and the reason I was hesitant to show it to you guys."

"It's amazing. I see some similarities to Lt. Mckezeni's Gundam and the original. I can only imagine what it looks like if finished." Kou said looking at the schematics closely as possible. "I could tell it's lacking the weapons from the back. Could it be the Newtype weapons?"

"Oh yeah," Keith nodded. "It looked like there's something missing that's attached on the backpack."

He wanted to say classified, but he thought that an obvious lie that anyone can see through it. Plus, they were already aware of it when they saw the Netix, so no use hiding it now. "Yeah, it is for the Newtype weapons. I did it under the assumption that the Netix's wired funnels could still be made smaller. Even wireless, if possible."

There was a prototype plan of it that Augusta gladly lent him but he was not about to say that lest he wanted to reveal classified technology. Though not on the level of Zeon, it was going there. He knew it was possible, because if the…_that _Mobile Armor could have it then no doubt it's within reach. Though truthfully he wasn't sure he'd like having that much power, part of him says it's a necessity with the air of war once again right around the corner.

"What if it took a long time for that to happen?"

He did consider Keith's question when he was designing it. The prototype Psycommu system was still on the testing phase but if it wouldn't work then it would be unfortunate but it's within his expectation.

"It would be a setback but it'll just have to compensate with two funnels like the Netix." It'd be better than nothing. And hopefully, it would be wireless that time around.

"I think it'll be cool Newtype weapons or not," Keith commented scratching his cheek. "I mean it's you, Lt. You'd be the _White Devil _even if you pilot a Gundam or not."

Amuro shook his head. "Thanks but don't get contented. There's always someone stronger than you."

"Lt Burning keeps saying that during our training," Keith stated. "The flow of battle may change in the blink of an eye."

Amuro hummed in agreement as he swallowed his food. South Burning was a good man and a good mentor. He wished he had someone like him during his first days of piloting the Gundam.

* * *

Space. The moment they left Earth's gravity, he shivered from the cold yet familiar presence. It grew stronger every minute they went far away from the planet. He

"Captain," Jacqueline Simone, the ship's operator said. "Four Salamis and a transport ship detected ahead."

Squinting his eyes, Amuro saw the small yet visible silhouettes of the ship's five thrusters in the distance. It was only four but he considered it good that it was the Salamis 2nd refit—Also known as Salamis 2 informally by others—that had four MS loadout compared to the first refit in 0082 which cannot carry any MS at all. This meant that they had a force of 25 MS in total. It was a relief that at least they sent back up at all for their search of the stolen Gundam.

"This is MSC-07 Albion. Do you read," Simone said. "This is MSC-07 Albion. I repeat, do you read?"

"This is the autonomous fleet," the radio crackled. "We copy, Albion. Transferring command to Albion."

"At least HQ care enough about us to send MS Capable ships," Burning muttered sitting on the stair below Simone's post and beside Captain Synapse. "I thought for sure they'd send us those 1st refits Salamis."

Captain Synapse tipped his hat down. "Thanks to Admiral Revil or Kowen, no doubt."

The way he said it was ominous enough for him that he didn't have to sense the emotions to know something else was going on that they didn't know. He didn't know what, but there was based on the Admiral's actions alone. Captain Synapse only reinforced that thought.

"Four ships?" Chris commented. "Will that be enough?"

"Don't worry. Other fleets are scouring other parts of our target area as well and possible hiding places."

The ship's back five thrusters were turned at them and in a tight defensive box formation when they approached the group of ships. They approached the center of the formation.

"We're in formation, Captain," Akram Harida who informed, nodded.

"Good," the Captain said looking at Peter opened communication with the other ships. "As of now, the flotilla is under my command in search of the stolen Gundam. We head for the shoal zone in Lagrange 1. Contact the shuttle."

"This is Transport shuttle Pedin of Anaheim Electronics," a woman said. "Requesting permission for material transfer to Albion."

"Permission granted."

The ship drew closer on the port side. "Order all ships on Combat status level 2. Lt. Ray." He didn't need to be told as he was already halfway through the door.

"After the transfer, we head for the _Lagrange 1_. HQ is sure that a remnant base is hidden in the Shoal zone."

Lt. Burning grunted in agreement. "It's logical since it's the nearest and that place is littered with debris from the _Battle of Loum._ It'll take us long to find it with only five ships. By the time we scour the whole place they may have already moved out."

"Let's hope we can still catch up to them."

* * *

It was fortunate on their part that the material transfer was uneventful. And so was their almost a week's journey to their destination; the Shoalzone that was formerly known as "Side 5," a place where they suspected the Delaz Fleet's base of operation was located. The only eventful thing he learned was that Nina and Kou grew closer in a span of a few days. They were even closer that Nina floated outside the cockpit as Kou futilely adjusted the unit before 1st Lt. Bate ordered him to use Burning's unit much to Kou's annoyance.

They were now traveling at a standard pace searching for the Delaz Fleet while he and the other pilots were on standby orders as they were now entering it now. He watched the additional AE employees—along with the Albion crew—worked fast on overhauling and changing the Unit 01 to its space configuration led by none other than Nina herself. It took a few days, but they were just completely stripping the Gundam of its armor and internal parts now—while the parts all floated haphazardly—and being replaced by space use ones. It was thanks to the efforts of others that all materials were all organized.

"An overhaul in the middle of an operation." Bate huffed behind him. "I heard them say that it's gonna take one or more days before they're finished. If you ask me, they should've just brought that thing back to Luna for retrofit because that's just taking space and manpower needed elsewhere."

Amuro agreed with the blond man's assessment. Hell, even Nina herself agreed with their line of thought! But such a case was impossible because in Nina's words, "it's a faster refit if done in Von Braun but they denied my request to do it there and sent the parts and workers instead." That was not counting the testing they were about to do once finished.

Apparently Nina's boss thought differently on that matter. Probably the urgency of the situation called for them to do it on the ship while following the trail while fresh.

It annoyed him honestly even with the right reasons but no use grumbling about it. What can he or they do? It was all happening now wherein a large number of Albion's manpower was shifted just to get the job done fast. "Yeah, I can see that" he mumbled his reply with a shake of his head. "But that leaves Uraki without a suit."

Bate waved his concern away. "He can borrow Burning's GM till his leg's all healed up. Plus, we have numbers on our side so I wouldn't worry about Uraki's absence if he comes with Anaheim."

He supposed Bate has a point. Unless the Delaz fleet has a large number of Gato's, he doubted their flotilla would be easily beaten.

"Since we have nothing to do, how bout we train the greenhorns."

He glanced back at his fellow pilot with a raised eyebrow. "You're not including me in that are you?"

The man smirked but shrugged. "Nah. I've seen what you're capable of. I know when I'm beaten, unlike Monsha. Though Uraki couldn't have won without your help."

He shrugged at the answer. That was debatable for him but he wasn't gonna waste time arguing about the past. "Isn't Monsha training Keith and Uraki now?"

Bate grinned slyly when Amuro turned to face the man. _Oh boy._

"How about we crash the party?" He smirked at Amuro which he can't but return the smirked back.

* * *

Amuro jolted awake at the sound of the blaring alarm. _Level 2 combat!_ He rose and quickly dress going to his Gundam. Everyone was scrambling to their stations when he ran to the hangar. There goes their week of peace, he thought grumbling all the way. Guess their luck ran out.

He hoped the others were not tired from their training a few hours ago. They must've reached L1 by now if they went with the same speed for approximately two days. And now, they were about to be greeted by possibly their enemies.

He got into the Gundam in time for the GM Custom to launch as the lift raised. "Nineteen unknown bogeys detected!" Reported the officer. "I repeat, nineteen bogeys detected launched from unidentified ships. Distance: 6000 and closing. All officers to battle station!"

_That many?!_ That meant only one thing, they were on the right track. Gato must've come this way! They had to, or else they wouldn't risk preemptively attacking them in their way to the shoal zone. Or this could be a diversion to make them think that way. Either way, they were in one hell of a greeting.

_That or they also sent some to intercept the others._

With the limited and fewer numbers of Zeon around the Earth sphere, it'd be possible they were solely focused on them since the Albion was a threat or the closest to them.

"All ships, defensive formation! All units, defend the ships!"

Amuro hoped that their numbers would be enough to deter their enemies. He didn't know whether if they had experienced pilots or not, but they had numbers on their side which he hoped that's enough. He hoped the bogeys—which he immediately concluded was Zeon—did not have any Aces in their ranks.

Stepping into the lift, he was raised. "Don't let them get near! I want two teams of four MS flanking both sides. Uraki, Keith, Adel, Bate, Adel, and four others, guard the ships. The rest, intercept them," Burning said on the visual monitor.

He launched quickly followed by the GM Type C from the other ships just a little behind Monsha while the rest guarded the ships. "Alright you maggots, you heard Burning! I want two four-team squads flanking from the side. The other and the rest meet them straight. Let's rock the Zeeks! If they want to greet us, let's answer them!"

"Roger that!" Their pilots said vigorously.

For all the arrogance Monsha had, he had good commanding presence. Though not as good as Burning from what he'd seen in their earlier training but it was enough to inspire the troops. If only he could tone down his arrogance he'd be a good leader that has confidence in spades and can inspire confidence on his team. Albeit in his own brash way.

He swerved up and down, left and right dodging the debris along the way. He looked back and see GM's struggling to keep up in evading in the tight space.

"Careful," he warned. "The debris are bigger than expected." He ducked and rolled past debris.

As they get closer, the unknowns became clearer. _MS-14F Gelgoog_, the computer detected. _This is bad_, he clicked his tongue. They were near, in terms of performance, to the GM Custom which meant this would be a tougher fight than expected for their comrades. He expected Zaku II's and Doms, but not Gelgoogs; Zeon's most powerful MS up to date. He supposed he shouldn't have underestimated the Delaz fleet.

"Gelgoogs," Christina commented as wariness rolled off her being. "How many of those MS did Zeon escape with."

Monsha huffed. "It's just Gelgoogs. If we defeated them with only GM before, then we can do it now. We got this. Don't let them kill you maggots, or I'll kill you myself! Got that?"

"Yes, sir!" The others cheered as one.

"That Gelgoog is powerful as our units," Sayla stated, "but exercise caution, everyone." They all voice their agreements but he felt the pilot's sureness of their victory against these remnant forces.

As they get nearer, the debris got closer, plenty, and bigger. The pilots were hard-pressed to keep up with the formation as indicated by their grunting and cursing.

The enemy MS was Gelgoog painted in standard colors which had the body painted in green while the arms and legs in dull gray. They were Gelgoogs that was seen in the war, but only this time wielding what looked like a handheld Zaku-like shield instead of the standard one. This was the perfect time to preemptively attack. "Attacking first. Funnels!"

His two large weapons flew out of their rack and towards the incoming units with a single mental command. The images—both mental and visual—flowed into his mind like a camera as he expanded his senses while the built-in funnel sensors showed everything what the wired weapons were doing. The Zeon's shock echoed but quickly recovered.

The headache split his head into two just like the simulation in Augusta, but he bared it knowing it was only temporary. Still, it didn't mean it was not disconcerting. A little compartmentalizing helped ease the sensation of the two things he was doing at the same time. It was doing two things at the same time, but it was no problem for him somehow. At least not much of a problem, unlike the familiar presence he's continuously feeling with his expanded senses that he kept blocking.

He wondered how she handled such power even when two were enough to give him a headache.

Swerving one of the remote weapons to the side, he avoided hitting the debris. Not far from his funnel, the determined flanking team was nearing the Zeon forces. The instant he fired, large pink beam can be seen from afar.

Every Gelgoog scattered faster than he thought they should have making him miss. The funnels went pass them and circled to fire again. Yellow beams can be seen lighting the space along with his pink from their distance as they chased it ferociously. He ignored a pilot's comment about Zeon having beam and them using bullpup rifles.

A single exploding orb lit the dark space before disappearing completely in a second along with with it the hatred and anger dissipating throughout the space. One of the Zeon pilot's anger doubled.

"Weapons hot!" Monsha ordered. "Keep the covering fire Lt! Don't give them time to rest."

All of them increased their speed to meet with their opponents. Excitement, fear, anxiety, and even revenge filled the space around him but he needed to close his mind for the negative emotion was simply too much. The feelings invaded his mind and soul like a hammer but he gritted through it while his mind was constantly pressured by controlling the funnels. Amidst that, a familiar presence lingered.

_Ignore the presence. Leave me be! _Every time he opened his mind! Why can't her presence fade away! This was why Earth was better for him!

His sensors beeped when it locked in the leading three Gelgoogs. His shot separated the group and gasped for a second when it was faster than he expected. "It's fast!" he warned the others. Were these the same MS he fought back in A Baoa Qu?!

He willed his funnels to fire hitting the two the went upward to the left when the beam penetrated their chest before exploding and taking their deep-rooted anger of their soul to their deaths.

Myriad of shots came as their forces met. Beams met bullets hit everywhere and ricocheting off their shield with every shot. He fired his rifle on full automatic only for his eyes to widen. "What the!" He gasped before switching to his beam weapons.

_What armor is the Zeons using? _Zeon armor may be thick enough to withstand bullets, but it was easily penetrable than the GM's armor. So, _what the hell is going on?_

"Their armor is too tough! The rifles can't penetrate it!"

"They're too fast! I'm being pursued!"

Gritting his teeth, he cursed their luck. The funnels spread and circled the battlefield and fired at Gelgoogs surounding him making them retreat, but he wouldn't let them for Amuro then blasted his wrist beams hitting two Gelgoogs.

"Ambushing them!" commed the flanking team. Stream of machine gun flashes in space even from the distance behind the enemy.

"Cut these bastards down! Their armor's—" Monsha grunted and was immediately cut off.

"The rifles are useless! Use the beam saber!"

"Cut them in half then!" another screamed.

"C'mon! Have at it, you Spacenoids!"

"Yeah!"

He rolled left when two MS above and in front move in towards him but their beams passed by him and he shot back with his wrist guns. The beams went by them as his enemies dodged faster than he thought and his shot flew to nothingness. What was wrong with him, dammit!

Hiding behind debris, he went up and recalled his funnels and flinched when it hit went something on the way back. _Two o'clock_, he went up and spun with both wrist guns aimed at it while hidden. The thick debris held off his beams and launched his funnels once more then fired. The MS behind it blew up.

Amuro didn't have to guess when his computer beeped. Another Gelgoog came out from the right and blasting at him with beams but he retaliated with all his weapons and hit its rifle arm but then retreated quickly to the scattered parts of a colony.

Machine gun bullets flew all around, and their pilots fear doubled by the futility of their rifles. The Zeons, on the other hand, radiated superiority with them easily outperforming their GM's. A GM with one arm left, the one holding its rifle, was sent careening back spinning when its arm exploded from a hit. Amuro wasted no moment and dashed towards his about to fall comrade with all weapons hot. His wrist guns hit its head and leg—sending it floating away from his ally—while his funnels blasted at the incoming enemies and making them dodge.

He grabbed the GM with his shield arm and turned towards the ship's directions while firing his machinegun and wrist guns down without looking. The Gelgoog danced around his attacks but it was enough for him to give his ally a chance. "GM, retreat now. You won't last long in that state."

"But—"

"This is an order! If you want to live then do it!"

The apprehension of leaving the battle lasted only for a moment for this pilot before he flew out of his grip and went fast back to the fleet.

"Oh no you don't!"

It took a single mental command for the funnels to fire at the three Gelgoogs approaching from different directions. The pink beams were fast with the first shot hitting the shoulder. Whatever emotion the pilot had, mostly anger and bitterness, was gone in an instant when the second beam hit its abdomen before exploding.

He turned and boosted up shield already raised blocking the beam. A GM went towards a Gelgoog below him firing at it but the MS evaded and Amuro dashed after his ally when said attacked enemy unit pursued the GM instead along with another one.

"Gelgoog on your rear! Disengage!" Amuro ordered, but still, it persisted. Just as said, the bullets ricocheted making him gasp before controlling his expression.

The sensors beeped when another MS chased him and he had to click his tongue at the circumstances. "Get off me!" He launched the funnels and rolled aside when his senses flared.

He fired both beam weapons at the MS pursuing him. It dodged with the grace of an experienced pilot as his shot then flew wide but it did the job of slowing it down but the funnels destroyed the shield.

Amuro took the chance to fire at the pursuer of his ally but only one struck true hitting the Gelgoog's right leg. The one behind it remained fixated on his target. A GM took the chance to cover his back keeping the Gelgoog chasing him at bay with covering fire.

"They got in!" Someone shouted.

"Focus! The defense squad will handle them."

He dared looked at the radar and saw four bleeps going towards the ships.

He grit his teeth when his shield shook from the hit but he raised it still and stood back to back with the GM. Shot after shot, they went at it. He extended his senses and fired the funnels but only hit nothing but metal with the presence of someone lingering on his mind. With a follow-up shot, an MS floated still above them and exploded spreading the debris more.

Elsewhere, he felt more life pulsed out like candles whose light had been suddenly blown away.

The familiar ringing of the radar beeped and he looked to where the enemy ship was. "Incoming fire ten o'clock ahead! Evade!" he bellowed at his ally.

Large object splitting beams came from far away lighting the dark space like thunder splitting the heavens and earth. A great pulsing hatred came from the beam came from. Panic swelled at their pilots, including the one behind him, when they evaded the beams.

He flinched when a GM exploded near him. Everything the pilot was, was snuffed out as the suit went out in a huge blast. Fear radiated the field and he couldn't blame them for the Zeons were good and their units more than able to match theirs.

The communication crackled in the middle of the barrage. Despite almost full of static, he recognized Simone. "Ships identified. One Zanzibar II and five Musai LP Type." He heard it loud and clear. It seemed that Delaz was serious in intercepting them if they sent out a heavy cruiser to meet them. "Five MS incoming! One's three times fast!"

"Looks like we're in the right direction boys!" Monsha laughed. "Don't let up! Keep up the attack. The ship will be here in a minute to support us."

The MS was fast indeed. It went ahead of its escorts but still not in range. They still had time to decrease the enemy MS. Among the chaotic battle, he saw the Pixie zigzagging throughout the zone chasing an enemy. The Gelgoog was no match for his friends' MS for it was built with speed in mind. After retrieving the funnels, he dashed forward cutting the MS in its way with a single swing at its chest.

"Sayla," he called. He swerved sharply to the right meeting the enemy MS. One shot was all he needed to shoot out its weapon arm sending it spiraling. Sayla, beam saber in hand, cut it in half. "Are you okay."

"Yeah," she replied. "Watch yourself, Amuro." She said before flying past him.

The moment he laid his eyes on the lead Gelgoog, he knew it was an Ace for it had a different color scheme than the rest. He caught a glimpse of a commander's antenna when it was in range. This particular Gelgoog was hued in brown all over except for the torso and knees which was painted purple. It zoomed past the debris expertly.

"All units. Avoid the command unit! It's an ace," Amuro shouted an order to his allies amidst the chaos and clamor of his allies.

Launching his funnels, he fired at the fast unit. He had to grit his teeth when Gelgoogs covered it and came after him as then weaved through the shoal zone. He could feel the annoyance and anger of Monsha after something flared and concluded—with sadness—that more of their allies fell. Chris' determination shone in the dark and if he could see it, it would've been bright.

He dived and raised his shield in time for him to careen back but not before retaliating. He didn't look to know that his shot hit and went straight for the ace. On his left, Chris' covered a lone GM against three Zeon MS and aimed his funnels at it. The shot hit one in the backpack from the side providing the two an opening which they took.

"Damn it!" cursed Monsha. "The leader's good."

The radar fizzled and shaky at best but his eyes flitted everywhere to search for their leader. Calling the remote weapons back, he dashed faster.

"Lt. Monsha, where are you?"

"Damn it, kid! Don't distract me!" he roared causing Amuro to flinch. "The pink one's headed to the ship fast! It already destroyed five GMs. You three have the command there while I intercept it."

"Roger."

"Amuro, we got it here," Sayla replied. "You support Monsha after that pink one."

Amuro nodded and headed back on maximum speed. He could see it now. Without even hearing the comm, he knew it was bad from the emotions of fear that hit him as he got closer and closer at the GM Custom.

He could see the silhouette of the ships and the duel of bullets against beams from their range. It all lit up like the Fourth of July. The constant moving of MS can be seen by the thrusters' constant flashing. He couldn't get their faster dammit!

Anti-MS guns blasted fully against the Ace and the escorts but still, the MS persisted coming close. Their MS act in defense of the ship but it could be barely called a battle for the GM's where no matched for this version of Gelgoog as it swept past them with lightning speed and damaging everything it went against it but they could do nothing with only their rifles.

"Hold on," he said to no one and released the funnels and it separated going for the Gelgoogs nearing the ship while he went for the leader.

Monsha and the others battled against the three and lead MS but were struggling. Bate, Monsha, and Adel's teamwork were like a well-oiled machine but it was not enough to deter their enemies. Uraki and Keith acted against two MS that capitalized on the Albion's lack of MS defense right now.

"The fuck you doing here?!" Monsha screamed. He expected that response from their temporary CO. "I told you to lead the others back there!"

"They can handle it," was his reply as he dashed for the two greenhorns.

They formed a good duo for they handled the Gelgoogs and keeping it away from the Albion with Uraki keeping them at bay with his saber and rifle with the support of Keith who provided support fire. He dashed towards them weapons hot with the machine gun as Uraki defended himself from the beam onslaught.

The ships' AA guns fired slowly than it could, and in lesser numbers, as they mounted their defense against the attack. His bullets did nothing but get the attention for a second as was his plan. The beams got the other Gelgoog evading.

"Kou!" Keith cried backing the GM Custom with the shoulder cannons with its attention at them.

The turned and Gelgoog kicked away Uraki and reared the spiked shield back as it boosted towards the GM Cannon II while the other dashed towards the still out of wildly floating Kou. Uraki's attacker swerved right and went up going around when Amuro fired at it but not before sending it careening away when he hit the shield arm. His wrist gun spat beams and piercing the backpack together with Keith who got its front.

His funnels flew and fired above and on its right. It may have dodged that but Kou was fast in taking the chance and went past it cutting the MS in half.

"You two alright?" he asked as he approached the two.

Both Uraki and Keith panted. "Yes, sir."

"We held off the Gelgoog sir. The Gelgoog—"

"I know. They have harder armor than expected. Hold that for later, Uraki," he said sternly. "Hold your line 'cause here it comes again! Uraki with me. Keith cover us."

He met this new one head-on with beam sabers and feeling the anger sharp as rusted nails raked over his sixth sense. On one hand, he fired point-blank the rifle causing it to reel back, more so when Uraki dashed at it while Keith covered fire. The Gelgoog sidestepped on long-range strikes and countered with a downswing but the other two fired at it. The attack stunned it and dented the armor giving Uraki an opening to stab but got kicked back instead.

"No!" He screamed as the Gelgoog spun heading for Uraki.

"Uh!" Uraki screamed when the enemy loomed before him now.

Amuro dashed and bashed it on the side with his shield and shooting it point blank with a full round of bullets. Flashes came above and he pushed the GM back with shield on the ready before the grenade could've hit Uraki. The unit still descended but shots from everywhere stopped it in its approach. Two beams penetrated its chest making him glance at GM Cannon II whose pilot breathed heavily.

"Nice shot, Keith," Uraki, breathing heavily, commented thankfully. "Thanks, Lt. Ray."

"Stay in position and defend the Albion. Keith, I need you providing support for others," he told the two and immediately annoyance sparked out of Uraki. He didn't need to be told to know what that feeling was. "Look around you," he ordered while his eyes flitted to the sensors for a second and saw their defense being pushed back by only seven units. One Gelgoogs harassing each of the Salamis and barely kept at bay by a two-MS team. "They need you. We'll handle everything and make sure nothing comes past us. You're our last defense."

"Roger," the Ensign—Lt. JG, he forgot about the recent promotion since given the GP01—said reluctantly. "Be careful sir."

"You too," he replied.

He shot straight for the oddly colored Gelgoog who waved around the trio and just as it opened fire at Adel's GM Cannon II. The beams and bullet interrupted its aim and blew away the shield in half. Many things rolled off the MS that he flinched with it combining from _that _person's feeling constantly bombarding him.

"Such anger!" He gritted his teeth from the raw anger pulsing uncontrollably from the pilot

He drew his saber and cut the rifle in half before it could evade and followed it with a wrist shot blocked by the shield. Bate came above but the Gelgoog was fast to reverse and dodge the saber for it. His ally spun and flew away from him when a Gelgoog intercepted him.

He willed the funnels away to encircle the leader and shooting from above and behind along with his Gundam as he approached it from the front. If possible, the anger rolled off the pilot more when it evaded but he did his best to ignore it in favor of eliminating it or driving it away so that their remaining units guarding the ships could organize and counter. The ace swiftly drew its own saber and they dueled and countered with every swing and strike but he kept up with the enemy leader easier than against Gato.

The chance came to him soon when the ace's strike was deflected upwards and followed by a swift horizontal cut that halved its right arm and gashed its chest slightly. His senses screamed at him and immediately noticed the beams that came from different directions from the other Gelgoog's covering fire making him pivot in spot and boosting upward for evasion.

It didn't take long for the other units to provide support for the command Gelgoog as they followed its retreat.

_Great. _That'd give them time to recuperate he thought and didn't need glancing all around to tell they had great losses. The chattering in the comm about engine failure, unresponsive units gave it all away easily.

"Pixie, 08th," Captain Synapse called the other two. "The ace's heading for you. Netix, Custom units two and three, pursue it. The rest, on the guard."

"With pleasure," Monsha said before the three of them followed the retreating Zeon swiftly.

The three of them, Monsha, Bate, and him, were quick to get on the tail of their escaping enemies and soon they would be trapped between Sayla's group and theirs. He launched and quickly gripped the handles on the funnels. _Looks like the handheld function of funnels came through_, he thought smugly at those who thought it was stupid.

"Hold on to the other handle," he told the other two which did so without complaint.

Normally, it had the handle on both sides was so that it could act as a handheld long-range weapon in case the rifle and one of the funnel was destroyed, but this use was applicable too. The MS' thrusters along with his large funnels weapons increased their speed but hindering their movements so he shot down big debris that could not be avoided.

While they catch up to the escaping enemy, he eyed the other units on the radar. Of the fifteen they left, nine registered as damaged and the rest still fighting with four MS still unaccounted for. He hoped it couldn't get higher.

The minutes ticked by, but the excitement from both became much obvious when the escaping MS grew larger on the horizon.

"Here we go!" Bate was first to let go and came fast and hard on the Zeons. Monsha was quick to follow with an audible smirk.

Numerous Gelgoogs, much greater than their numbers, didn't let up one shot while their units hit and run through the debris. He aimed the wrist guns at two vulnerable targets but a flare came upon the distance that distracted him.

The Zeon turned ignoring their vanguard force until he lost them on the thickening shoal zone.

"Stop pursuit," Monsha ordered.

* * *

"Nine MS lost, eight critically damaged, and three damaged ships." Burning, who was seated in front of the Captain, simply sighed as his frustration evidently rolled off him. "This is a great setback that we can't afford to have now."

A setback was an understatement. Their MS, it was easy to repair in time but the ships on the other hand? It would take some time to fix depending on the damages done to the ships. He counted their blessings that it was only damaged and not destroyed.

"Still," Adel said looking deep in thought with his piercing gaze. "It's better than destroyed, sir."

"Mora says it'll six hours at most to repair the MS and eight to just to partially get it moving," Chris stated. "They're working on it as we speak."

"Yeah," Bate smirking softly in clear agreement. "We should count our luck on that one. They didn't stop us, only slowed us from finding their base."

Burning shook his head. "Their goal was to slow us down. I'd bet that they were ordered that if they couldn't stop us then slow us down. And with our ship the only left capable of moving, we can't go forward with our strength halve and without us knowing their strength."

The Captain gave a slow nod on Adel's statement. "Indeed. Time they may use for moving somewhere else."

Anger pointed at nowhere came off from a sneering Monsha. Amuro wondered who his comrade was angry his mind was so roiled that it seemed prickly. "Ugh," the man's lips curled in anger. Not to say he didn't expect it, Monsha was clear in his thoughts with that sneer alone. "They ripped our forces apart easily. They have better armor than we thought. Our weapons didn't do jack shit against it except for the beam saber! If it wasn't for the Gundams and our units."

_We would've lost more._

He was surprised that Monsha of all people would feel the backlash of the pilots lost but stamped that degrading thought down. Of course, jerk the man maybe, but he was still a pilot was still a human that had seen more deaths than him and maybe tired of it.

"Indeed," Captain Synapse's eyes narrowed and darkened. The man's presence tightened like a steel clamp. "They've more than kept up with our GM's. That means that they have the means to improve their units."

"Kycillia," Sayla muttered vehemently eyes boring at the wall. Her being grated against his mind making him thankful he knew how to close himself from Newtypes from all the _training _and _experimenting _of Augusta Labs.

There was no doubt why she was somewhat angry at that woman knowing her past but she and the Captain had a point. Kycillia, or possibly someone else, had to be supplying the remnants because there was no way they could maintain their units that well. That didn't include the new unknown armor they had.

"Good news though, we're on the right track if they sent a welcoming party," Bate said. "It's only a matter of time before we located their base."

"It could be a diversion."

The three pilots turned to Chris but it was Monsha that gave her a dirty look which she returned. "Why the hell would they confuse us when this place is already large and full of shits that our ship sensors don't work most of the time in this place."

"Why wouldn't they?" she said in return. "They know they don't have time before the brunt of the fleet searched for them so they're confusing us, the recon, to delay and stall time for whatever their using Unit 02 for is."

"Chris has a point, Monsha." The grouchy Monsha redirected his fiery gaze at Adel. "They're planning something big with the Gundam and is clearly delaying us from finding them."

"True," Captain Synapse said with closed eyes when he leaned back on his chair. "We must prepare for the inevitable time they use it—"

"When?" Amuro asked the question that loomed above them from the beginning. "We know that they will use the Physalis, but when? Does HQ have any idea, sir?"

Captain Synapse tipped down his hat slightly covering his eyes. "Before we left, I've been briefed by the top brass, with confidence I might add, that they're highly certain Delaz would use the nuke among the three potential targets; Luna II, Konpei Island, or Luna."

"Shit." Monsha clicked his tongue. "I admit they got guts. Why should we worry if we outnumber them. We can stop the Gundam when it eventually attacks."

"We can't underestimate Delaz, Monsha!" Burning snapped. "If they managed to steal it under our noses then no doubt they have a plan on how to use it effectively."

All of the choices made sense. Luna II was one of the, if not the most, important base of the Federation and was one of the untouched strongholds left when Zeon dominated at the beginning of the war. Destroying it could cripple the Federation's space overall forces largely. Konpeito, while was as major as Luna II, because it contained their forces second only to those docked at Luna II. Luna was self-explanatory seeing as the Federation had many bases and factories on it.

"Are we really just swimming blind here? Don't we have at least a little intel about their movements?" Sayla asked.

"As of now? No," replied the Captain making Monsha curse. "But I'm certain what their target is."

"Pray that we may not be too late to find out what they're planning," muttered Burning.

* * *

R & R if you like. If you like this story, even just a follow and fave is deeply appreciated. :)


	5. Chapter 5

But wait! There's more! I actually wrote this and finished probably last month but got stuck in the first editing.

I would like to say thanks to all those that fave and follow this story. Also, a thank you for those who read this far, even if you found you didn't like it, the effort alone in your reading my humble story this far enough is appreciated.

I hope you find the chapter satisfactory. :D

* * *

Amuro raised his shield and paint bullets hit it from above. Without looking, he aimed his rifle right as the targeting system tracked the Gundam. He fired and red splattered marks blemished the blue and white shield of the Full Burnen Zephyranthes Gundam. It zoomed around him but he already saw where it was going and timed his aim. The other Gundam immediately stopped and he saw its thrusters, jutting from the backpack, rotated and halted itself and barely evading Amuro's shots.

Chris' Gundam may not be on par with the Netix's reaction time but it was more than enough to keep up with his maneuvers and the speed of Unit 01. He opened the wrist machine guns and barraged Uraki with it all the while using the debris to confuse its pilot.

His senses rang, Amuro automatically fired the bazooka on the back upwards without warning whilst he kept Uraki at bay. Fear came from the pilot of the GM Cannon II and he looked up briefly to see its shoulders marked with red.

He stopped firing and reloaded his gun and boosted towards a large rock before going up. Up he went pushing the 08th to its limit while dodging the small, yet potentially dangerous, debris on his way until he passed by the GM. With a gentle step on the pedal, he arced and spun downward. Shots from Keith him and Uraki behind him intercepted Amuro on his way up but he evaded every shot as they went wide past him.

The continuous rifle shots fired at Unit 01 put it on the defensive and retreat but his every shot hit true to its target. A glance at his left and he rolled left as a heavy shot passed him and retaliating with a machine gun fire of his own at the GM Cannon II. The computer beeped as he approached the Gundam and he balanced the unit before grabbing the training sword whilst easily avoiding the shots.

His sabers met the others Gundam's, but he kicked it away and thrust backward. Point blank, he shot the Zephyranthes but it retreated back into the debris.

With the field temporarily clear of Uraki, he went for the support. He easily reached it and kicked the unit back and with two swipes, the faux beam saber sparked then marked GM Cannon II's legs and left arm with white lines sending the shield floating away.

_Above__!_ His senses cried and kicking the damaged MS away and quickly rolling up deflecting the beam saber before firing point-blank but Uraki sidestepped missing the shot by bare inches. He then switched targets, aiming at the helpless Keith. The computer beeped and the cockpit glowed red after that. "Too late," he muttered as he then rained paint bullets at Keith's slow-moving unit.

Uraki was determined in his swings, but he avoided them every time. Swiftly switching to the training saber, he met the other Gundam's sword with his shield and in a clash, his sword, and Uraki's shield met too. Amuro fired the vulcans and hit the eyes before kicking Unit 01 away and threw the sword hitting the cockpit sneding it further away.

"Alright, that's enough," Lt. Burning said. "10.49. That was better than before Uraki, Keith. But you're wasting too much ammo, slow down—"

_What the hell? _His sensors picked up something. Adjusting the frequency, _a long-range transmission on an open channel? _Who would do such a thing? The images were unclear at best, but was still clear and not static enough to be seen.

A broad-shouldered bald man in dark Zeon ship officer outfit stood on a podium with the light pointed only at him leaving everything dark. His scowl was fierce, and his posture erect and strong as the will his expression showed. The sight alone froze him feeling he had already seen what the end result of this would be.

"Are you guys receiving a transmission?" Keith, albeit a little confused, curiously asked.

All of them gave their confirmation.

"All the way out here in the shoal zone of all places?" Uraki said back mirroring his friend's state.

It was a curious indeed. Even if they were nearer to Luna, it takes some adjusting to receive anything in the shoal zone of all places since all the debris everywhere disrupts any signal coming through. Though it was possible to receive contact while in it, it would be shaky at best.

"To the Earth Federation and the warriors of Zeon! We are the Delaz Fleet and I am Admiral Aguille Delaz, faithful soldier of the late Gihren Zabi. I come with a message for all my fellow Spacenoids; It is clear to everyone that the treaty that ended the liberation of Zeon and all of Spacenoids is a lie!"

The admiral of the Delaz Fleet raised his shaking fist in the air. "All of our hard work for our freedom ended because of one thing; the Treaty of Granada! A treaty made by traitors usurping the power from our rightful leader calling themselves as the _Republic of Zeon._ The future of Zeon still lives for us to lose the war that soon! Kycillia Zabi, the last Zabi heir and the inheritor of the Spacenoid freedom still lives! The will of Gihren still lives in her and in our hearts! Our cause is not yet dead. Neither is it changed! It is the same! The war for our independence never stopped for the Federation lied about our leader being missing in action during A Baoa Qu. I assure you, she still lives and safe away from Federation hands ready to enact the hands of justice against the oppression our kind has been given for years. We, the Delaz Fleet are but the Vanguard for our people."

Someone gasped, most likely Keith. It looked like Admiral Revil was right. It was only a matter of time before Zeon returned.

"Delaz," Amuro muttered. So this is the leader behind the theft. It was clear that no talk nor negotiation could happen for this man had this zealous and headstrong aura just by looking at him.

"The deceitful Earth Federation knows this to be true for they made the means to chain us more like mongrels like they themselves are! They are using their overwhelming power to pull our liberation movement at its root and pull us back under Earth's gravity. This I tell you to be true, for lo and behold." Delaz pointed behind and Amuro's blood ran cold at what he knew was gonna happen.

_Please don't._

Lights turned on behind him and there, the stolen Gundam stood motionless with Gato standing dutifully in front of it like the good soldier that he was. "The Physalis Gundam. A Federation secret weapon made to flagrantly violate the Antarctic Treaty with its powerful nuclear weapon! Thanks to the valiant efforts of our brethren from Earth, we have taken this weapon of mass destruction. After seeing this, can you still not doubt the evil intent of the accursed Federation for us Spacenoids?! Their plan for the future of our people!? Will you believe now that the _peace _achieved is but all a lie?"

"Gato!" Uraki shouted before silencing anymore what he had to say.

He swept his hand aside and the other on his heart. "Lay aside your doubts and fears, for our cause is righteous! Lay aside the false peace the Earthnoids whisper in your ear. With the blood burning in righteously in my veins and blessing of our sovereign, devote yourself! Devote your heart! For all our sacrifices is for this very moment! Henceforth, I hereby declare anew our war with the Earth Federation! For the glory of the motherland! Sieg Zeon!"

Thousands of voices joined and echoed in the static monitor. He wanted to watch more but he shut the monitor off and contacted the ship. "Albion, do you read?" What a shitstorm this was. They were already moving on from the war but here they were igniting the fire once more.

"Loud and clear, Lt. Ray."

"Did you receive the Delaz transmission as well?"

"We did," Captain Synapse replied tensely instead of Simone. "I just received that HQ is tracking the source as we speak but we're to remain on our objective."

"Return to the ship for the briefing. Lt. Monsha's team will relieve your team of patrol duty."

Amuro was just glad nothing happened during the patrol and after which he decided to train Uraki and Keith with the blessing of Lt. Burning. When they docked on the ship, he sighed in relief of being on board. The crew was quick to service the units but their mumbling of the trouble that Delaz was, was worrying them if another war was on the horizon.

Sayla's constant soothing presence washed over his making him frown in shame for letting her do this because he could sense the underlying gnawing worry in her too. It made his head hurt somewhat, but not wanting her to strain herself, he sent soothing waves to her. _I'm fine_, he told her.

She didn't need to strain herself for him he thought clenching his fists for a second.

_No need to make her worry more__,_ he sighed and pushed back the guilt that wanted to burst.

He was tired of fighting, but circumstances would not let him stop. If the Federation could leave him alone, that could've better, but no, so he did what he can. Admiral Revil was understanding and backed him up or else the _debt _he had—the Admiral's words, not his—would go unpaid. Whatever the case really was, he was just glad about it and shivered just imagining what the others would've done with him especially those that hated his Newtype abilities.

"Heh, I would've used the Gundam better than he did and none of this Delaz business would have happened."

Amuro frowned at Monsha's words as he floated towards the door. He didn't doubt his skills, no. The Lt. had more than showed it during the attack and on his many training with Uraki and Keith and the simulation back in Australia but he didn't have to be a dick about it. It wasn't like Uraki was not talented, he was, but he just needed more training and experience.

One look from Mora shut the man up and looking away sneering. The other two smirked in amusement before heading on their MS.

"I'm worried about the colonists' reaction if they received that transmission," Mora said frowning. "I'm afraid it'll light up incitement from Zeons hiding everywhere."

Mora expressed what he—likely most of them too— was thinking of too. His war declaration could, no, not could, would make someone sympathetic to their cause. Not that he couldn't understand where they were coming from with the Federation voting to tightening and adding more soldiers at colony garrisons in the name of _security_. Not only that, but they were also monitoring online activities on the colonies. It's bound to make some resentment from the colonists and maybe even the Civilian side of the Federation.

"If I had the Gundam there would've been—" Monsha grumbled and he got on his MS before he could hear the rest of it.

"Good job you two," Nina said smiling as she floated to Kou and entwined their hands. Amuro didn't know why, but he shivered and got a strange feeling from Nina. A certain wisp of something that was hidden deep in her heart. "You almost had Lt. Ray on the ropes there."

Amuro putting on a smirk, that he hoped would not look awkward, and patted the other two while feeling good at the chance of topic that Nina brought.

Kou laughed awkwardly with Keith. "Not really," Kou replied. "He's still leagues above us."

"Heh, don't be humble you two. I could see your improvement." Mora patted the two pilot's back. "A small improvement is still an improvement."

"But Lt. was taking it easy on us. Not sure that counts as worth saying good job," Kou grumbled bitterly.

"Don't worry, I'm not sure anyone can compare to Amuro. He's something else so you're definitely not alone there. But if it helps, you two were better than before." The others chuckled at Sayla's words. Amuro glared at Sayla and his expression softened when she pecked his cheek.

"Uraki's right. He was taking it easy," Chris said in amusement behind him. "You should see him train his team. He's a slave driver that after training, his team's MS needed a repair."

He groaned at that topic once again and rolled his eyes when he saw the two paled. He smiled at the two reassuringly. "Don't worry. They're exaggerating."

He left the hangar hoping the worse won't come to pass.

* * *

"Manila and Dodoma will take a few more hours to repair. Astana's engine repair is halfway done and can mobilize when needed," Moira reported. "We shifted some manpower from the ship to help repair them. We'll be done by approximate 0400 hours tomorrow. As for the MS." She sighed and massaged her temple. "More than half of our MS force is repaired with few left due to supply shortage."

Captain Synapse nodded. "That's good. The less delay the better. We have received word from HQ that they'll be sending another supply fleet." The Captain looked at Lt. Burning who was now out of the foot cast and crutch.

"We're prepared if they attack us this time, Captain. Uraki's performance is Gundam Unit 01 is constantly improving, the same could be said for Keith. And with me all healed now, our fighting force is in prime condition."

_Well_, _except for our lost pilots. _He frowned when he thought what these men felt when they died.

Their flotilla had been delayed by the attack and it took three days to repair the ships just to get the three—with the other two nearly repaired—moving but they've been doing some patrolling in that meantime so they have got nothing but forward to go this time since the possible locations near them had been scouted with nothing found.

"Good." Synapse nodded. "HQ found nothing substantial, but they found out that they plan to enact _Operation Stardust. _The top brass is of the same thought as Burning and I, that it all hinges on Gundam Unit 02."

The large monitor showed a space map but with three places they'd discuss before being highlighted. Captain Synapse "After careful deliberation, Jaburo has ordered the fleets on highlighted places to remain Combat Status Level 2 until further notice even during the naval practice as they are certain Konpei Island is the target."

"Sir," Christina stood and said after being permitted to speak. "Aren't we going to participate on the naval practice?"

"Yeah, we're close to Konpei Island. Why aren't we part of the defense there?" Uraki backed.

"Normally the Albion is supposed to do be part of it under Admiral Kowen's Fleet." Amuro saw Captain Synapse frown for a second and felt his a fleeting disappointment. "But the search and retrieval mission is our priority."

He frowned at the thought of not participating in the defense but it made sense even It felt like they were being sidelined in the guise of search. He cannot deny that searching and preemptively attacking them, preventing anything if possible, was better than reacting.

"So we're just to continue our search?"

Captain Synapse nodded at Sayla's question. "For now."

"Any news about Colony movements, sir?" Sayla asked with the worry pulsing off on her being.

"Nothing as of now," he replied. "But HQ has ordered every garrison to be vigilant. The Republic itself issued a statement condemning Delaz's action."

On the edge of his mind, a calm presence swept through it freezing him on the spot. Without even as a twitch nor scowl, he pushed her presence away and barricaded his mind.

"—Ray." He blinked and looked to Lt. Burning. "Are you alright. You look pale."

"I'm fine, sir."

His face heated up from the focused gaze of Captain Synapse and Lt. Burning. He breathed when the Captain nodded and continued on.

"Nothing about the Federation's use of nuke in Physalis?" he asked the Captain. a firm shake of his head was his response.

The debriefing went longer than he like and throughout the meeting, he wanted to sleep and he made no effort to hide it from Sayla. He didn't like feeling the vast blank space and _her _presence much more than necessary than he had to but he had no choice. The topics covered were when they were gonna move, possible places the Delaz Fleet could hide, and their possible numbers.

He sighed lowly when the meeting was done. The Captain was the first to leave followed by Chris and Sayla.

"Do you have a minute, Lt. Ray," Lt. Burning asked just as he was to exit.

He gritted his teeth and closed his mouth abruptly before he could say anything he regretted. He breathed and replied calmly. "What is it, sir."

Sayla looked curiously over her shoulder frowning before he beckoned her to go without him through his sixth sense.

The older pilot sat and crossed his arms and legs with eyes closed. "Don't worry, it'll take a minute." He smiled and gestured for him to seat too. "Is everything okay?"

Lt. Burning's expression shifted subtly, but he saw his concern. Sayla and Chris knew what was bugging him but he had to clarify what he meant. "What do you mean, sir."

"You've been looking distracted these past few days."

"I don't know what you—"

"You're piloting performance was subpar than during the battle. I can also tell from the way you look disinterested during the debriefing that something huge is on your mind."

Was it? If that was the case, he didn't notice it but he knew the reason why. This was why he was wary of going to space in the first place but since it was from Admiral Revil himself, he couldn't refuse it after all the man did for them.

He sighed combing his hair with his hand. "It's nothing, sir. I promise it'll never affect my piloting."

"Call me Burning, we're off duty," Burning replied with a small smile that was nearly a smirk. "I'm sure it won't. You know, I've seen footage of your fight against Char during A Baoa Qu and many others. It was used as training footage for new and old pilots alike."

He remained silent and nodded already knowing of this fact. He also knew that his data from the Gundam's learning AI was used as preset moves in the new GM's.

"I've seen what you're capable of and I have to say you're holding yourself back."

He winced. Did it seem that way? Did Sayla and Chris ever thought that and didn't say it to him. That was a thought for later, or not at all. He didn't need more things to think about! As if his constant dreams about _her _weren't enough.

"Or, something is holding you back." Everything froze and his lungs stopped because the truth pierced his heart. It all stemmed back to her and her death by his hands. "So, which is it?"

"Do you believe Newtypes, si—Burning?"

"Do you drink?" He blinked at the question brought out of nowhere as the older man laughed. "'Cause this seemed time for a drink. I'm"not a heavy drinker as Monsha is, but you need to unwind from time to time."

"Permission to speak, sir?"

"Aren't we already?" He gave him a cheeky smile.

"Why are you doing this, sir?"

"When I first saw you I saw something heavy in your eyes. Same as Sayla, but it seemed worse in you. It didn't look good on a young man like you. C'mon, we're wasting time. A little loosening will do you better." He said patting his back and leading him to the door.

Chris and Sayla were outside when they exited the briefing room. A brief presence caressed his mind sending the presence away. "Sir, can you go first. I'll catch up."

"Don't keep me waiting, Lt," he smirked. "I'll be at the lounge."

"What's wrong?" Chris asked in concern with her eyes solely on him. "Sayla said you weren't feeling good throughout the briefing?"

"Uh, somewhat," he admitted knowing that lying to the two was futile. "But nothing to be concerned about. Really, I'm fine."

Sayla took his hands and caressed it with her thumb while her soothing presence washed over him. "I can see that being in space unsettles you. I wish I could do something to help you."

She can't because it was his own problem. It was the demon he had to face on his own.

"You already are," he said leaning down as their foreheads now met and their eyes focused on no one but each other. Her eyes says everything that was unsaid even in their peculiar Newtype connection.

Slowly his hand traced her arm and wished that the pilot suit wasn't in the way so that he could at least feel the smooth milky skin underneath it. "You helped me more than anyone when," he whispered.

Fake cough echoed and broke the silence in the hall. He looked at Chris sheepishly. "Sorry, Chris. Didn't mean to leave you out."

She shrugged. "You didn't. I just want to say you shouldn't keep Lt. Burning waiting."

"Come to think of it, what did he want to talk to you about?"

He tucked a hair behind Sayla's ear and smiled. "I don't know but I'll tell you later."

"I'll hold you to that." Sayla smiled.

"C'mon," said Chris pulling Sayla towards the opposite direction he was heading. He didn't hear what was said more when they turned around the corner.

* * *

For a ship, it was good that Federation, or maybe Anaheim, found it important to make a lounge for the crew to spend their downtime. It helped bring about a less spartan feel to the ship. The lounge was twice as big as the mess hall and very much decorated with expensive wood used on the bar counter, liquor shelves, tables and chairs, and the booths. Together with the soft foamed chairs, the dim setting, and smooth jazz song playing as the off duty crew mingled brought about an easy atmosphere that belonged in a cruise shuttle or earth ship rather than what one would expect from a state of the art Federation Mobile suit carrier ship.

The only thing lacking was a window, but since this was on the center of the ship it was impossible. Probably the only reason why they used a screen shaped like a window showing the space with stars in it.

Lt. Burning sat on a corner booth already set up with liquor bottles and two glasses.

"Sir," he saluted before he sat down with a gesture from the older man.

"Peaceful night isn't it, Amuro."

It took him seconds to register the fact that his CO called him by his name and he shrugged it off. "Yes, sir. I just wished it remained that way for a long time."

"Heh, you're right about that. Anyways, you were asking me if I believe in Newtypes?" He asked while he poured the drink on the glass.

Amuro nodded and gently sipped the liquor. It was better than he thought it would be.

"Like it?" He nodded. "The bartender recommended it."

Glancing at the man behind the counter, it was one of the cooks. Guess he shouldn't be surprised, after all, that it was the man that gave Sayla the bottle of Vodka.

"I would ask you why you ask such a thing but I guess it's only fair I gave you my answer first."

Lt. Burning sighed in delight after a drink. "I don't believe in the definition the Zeons gave it, but I do believe in Newtypes."

The older man turned to the fake windows and shook his head. "I've come to define them as people that just wants the best for humanity without sacrificing their ideals, ethics or humanity in the process. Even if they exist as Zeons defined them to be, a new evolution of humans that can understand each other without words, they're no different if they have no morals to cling to." His CO scoffed and took another sip. "Ironic, huh. A soldier talking about philosophy about ethics and morality."

"Not at all, sir." Amuro smirked a little behind the glass as he too drank. "I'm just surprised to see this side of you."

"Heh, still hard to believe, right?" A small but fleeting smile appeared from Burning's face and when Amuro blinked it was gone. "Blame my wife for that one. She used to read philosophy books and I tried it and like it before we separated. "

Amuro nearly choked when multitudes of emotion came off the older man before him but stopped it when he calmed down. "I'm sorry to hear that, si—Burning."

"It was a long time ago," the man replied calmly whilst looking away for a second. "It was for the best. It's a good thing we still see each other when I visit my son."

Amuro left it at that not wanting to open the healed wound of Burning.

_At least they still see each other_, he scowled. Unlike his parents.

"I take it your parents are separated?"

He nodded. "Born on Earth. Father had a job in Side 7, V Project. My mother didn't want to come so we left her on Earth and I got raised by my father and my best friend's parents on the colony." He didn't want to mention that his father was mad at her because he suspected she had an affair with someone else.

"Ah." Was all he said. "We're digressing. Why ask that?"

"Am I?" He smiled his cheeks heating up more before sighing. "Suppose so. I can say I've moved one but I can't or even want to talk about her."

His gaze turned to Burning who sat there without words and looking calm and patient. Chugging the drink in one fell swoop, he breathed deeply and exhaled as if it was A Baoa Qu all over again. His therapist said talking about it to others would help and he had yet to try it out.

"Everything has to do with the Newtype theory. It's true. Everything Zeon Zum Deikun said is true. I don't consider myself different by being a _Newtype_, but I've experienced understanding a person without many words spoken. Both Sayla and I, do. And… someone else I love that died during the war."

_Love_. It was love that went beyond anything that he understood in all his life. It just fell into place that shattered as fast as it was formed. He closed his eyes and the images flowed in his mind like it was yesterday along with the sensation that he felt. This may have sounded pretentious of him to know something so vague being only eighteen, but it was all true.

For him, this was no mere crush or fling. This… whatever it was, transcended anything he felt throughout his life.

"I met her during the rainy day in a colony when I ask for shelter in waiting out the rain." Amuro smiled wistfully while his heart clenched tightly. "We spoke few words to each other, but it just happened. But, it didn't last too long." He loosened his now tightened fist that he barely knew shook.

While he told this, Burning kept his eyes on him in silence which Amuro appreciated.

"You may have seen the footage. The green Mobile Armor. That was her." Closing his eyes, he blinked a few time to wipe his moistened eyes and finished his glass in one drink. "Turns out, she was a Zeon Newtype soldier under Char's command. And I—" he paused letting the air in. "Killed her. Part of me died then that… I can't easily explain."

"It's been four years now, but I can't forget her and her last thoughts. I sleep, I dream of her. I feel her presence everywhere. Especially in space. I can't open fully myself. Not unless I want to feel her all around me and let her in." He muttered the last part and blinked rapidly. He was not worthy of her. Not after what he'd done.

"I understand if you think I'm crazy, sir."

Lt. Burning didn't say anything and refilled his empty glass. How many does that make it now? He found out he didn't care and chug it down in one go making the older man refill it once more. "I see. I can't claim to understand what you're going through but believe me when I say I believe you."

That made him snort bitterly in disbelief as he drank. Only so few people believe in the term _Newtypes _because it was something that came from Zeon and was spoken in fear or disdain by the other higher officials. The Commander-in-chief of the Federation was one of them, along with his and Sayla's team.

Now that he had time to think about it, there was a weak yet magnetism pulling him in when they Admiral Revil numerous times just like with Sayla.

His CO closed his eyes and sighed. "It's unfortunate. It's a fate like that I don't want to wish to someone but I don't doubt that friendships had formed and severed during the war."

Did Burning ever have a friend from Zeon during the war? Was that why he was saying this?

"Why would you easily believe someone you don't know." He might as well have snapped and shouted that with the emotions roiling deep in his chest. It sounded so outlandish that if he told others of it, he knew he would be laughed at.

Why would he believe him? They knew each other for about nearly three weeks. It was such a ludicrous thing for Amuro to hear Lt. Burning believing his words. It took a long time for his team and others to even believe his _Newtype _or skills, how much more when talking about a fairytale-like story about his connection to her.

"Amuro," he said sitting cross-legged and leaning back into the soft chairs. "I've seen all types of people on this world. All sorts of people from liars to manipulative ones. I know when a person is telling the truth or not. And it's your eyes that says it all, it's too open. It was the way my wife and I looked at each other back then."

Shaking his head, he turned his gaze back to the digital window and pushed down the urge to snap back and say something.

He couldn't help but glance at the man from his peripherals before going back to stare at the stars. Lt. Burning burned with hot desire and cold regret that mixed together some kind of weird emotion. It was an emotion that he felt many times before.

"You're blaming yourself for her death and do not want to face her thus you close yourself to any thought or things associated with her."

He flinched. "I…" He wanted to deny it but it seemed disingenuous and for the life of him, he can't deny nor confirm it. "Don't know, sir," he weakly replied that was quieter than a mutter.

Did it seem that way? Was that what was bothering him? His refusal to face his past mistake?

"You don't need to be psychic to know that it's what troubles you."

That brought a chuckle out of him. _Psychic__,__ heh__, _that's certainly a funny way of describing a Newtype. Both correct and wrong at the same time.

"Then do you blame me for the…," he said leaving the last words hanging but he knew that the older man understood it. If he really was limiting himself wouldn't that make him liable for this whole mess? To be honest with himself, that was why he fully blamed himself for the Gundam theft.

"For Gato." He flinched internally and sighed in confirmation. He held his breath for the disappointment or anger that he would face. "I can." This time, he really did flinch. "But no, I don't."

The serrated feeling of anger was absent in Burning and why so? Even if he understood it then, why? He clearly had the power to do so but couldn't do so in the end.

"Why," he muttered looking at the man before him. He should. He had the power to do so but didn't do his best. "If you what you said is true then, won't that make me the cause of all this."

"We all got demons we have to face, Amuro," Lt. Burning replied and his eyes boring deeply into him. "I can't blame you for that. I've been there and experience the things it could do to us. It brings us down to our lowest hell. I know it's hell, and all I can say is it'll get better if you forgive yourself first."

For a second he had to wonder what the Lt. went through because the man's tense body and sour yet proud expression says it all and wondered if he can gain the type of confidence Burning had. He was wondered if he could ever move on from her.

_It's not that easy, Burning. _The festering feelings returned every time he thought of her death by his hands.

"It may not be easy but forgiving yourself is the start of healing no matter how long it'll take. The regret, sadness, and yearning may stay but it will not control you anymore. Ask yourself this, if you really understood each other then you must know what she thought last." He nodded numbly. "Was it anger?"

There were lots of emotions that washed over him _that time _but anger was not one of them so he shook his head. The scene replayed in his mind for the infinite times making him close his eyes in hopes no tear would fall.

_Stop! No tear would bring her back._

"It was regret, sir." His and her regret that they haven't met first before fate tore them apart as quickly as they met. It stayed alongside the sadness that it had to be this way. "Regret for us not meeting earlier."

"Do you think she would want you to be who you are now? Would she be happy?"

He glared at Burning already knowing of the answer before sighing to release the discomfort in his chest. Lalah despite being a Zeon soldier, was understanding and patient. She understood him just as he understood her. Reluctant as he was to say this, she also understood Char. "No."

It was not as simple as Burning thought because his mistake didn't make another, but a larger mistake. Maybe he did experience those but that didn't have repercussions as his mistake. Maybe he had demons to face, maybe he don't, but definitely the others would not easily accept that reason. He had the power to do so but didn't do his job well enough to prevent it. He won't deny any blame pointed at him by then when that happens.

"Then you need to stop blaming yourself if she didn't too." Gruffly, the man admonished him with a sigh. "It was unfortunate but it was war. Her death happened. What matters is what you'll do to atone for that mistake."

_Atone. _How could he do so with her dead and not be there physically too for him to be with her? In what way could he do that?

"What's that pipsqueak doing here?" A familiar grumbling of a man said as he approached them. He turned a glared at the sight of Monsha. Their patrol must've been over now and it was Sayla and Chris' turns.

"Hey, Burning," Adel greeted. "Kid. What brings you two you here."

Burning laughed in response and shrugged. "Oh, nothing much. I invited the young Lt. here for a little downtime to make his night a little different since he's not much of a drinker. What about you guys."

"Oh, patrol's over. Monsha here wanted to loosen up." Bate smirked taking a seat next to him and putting an arm around his shoulder nearly touching them.

"Tch," Monsha grunted derisively. "I'm pretty sure that kid will prefer to drink milk."

All of them men laughed and he couldn't muster enough energy to glare at the man and silently drank instead. His senses dulled as if he was swimming in water. More than usual, he welcomed the feeling of dulling senses if it'll keep _her _out of his mind.

_How many drinks does that make now?_ He lost count of it but all he knew was that the lone bottle became four. How many would it take to completely drown out the haunting presence in his mind?

"That's just you projecting yourself to me, Lt. Monsha." He enjoyed wiping off the arrogant smirk from him as the others laugh at him then. Massaging his temple, it was definitely the start of a headache. "We all know that you can't drink anymore because of your age."

"The kid's got you there, Monsha," Bate said with the other two laughing.

He stood and bowed before the man. "I'll take my leave, sir."

"Hey, hey," Bate said. "Leaving now? We just arrived at the party. Don't tell me that that's all you can handle."

He smiled slightly at Bate. "Maybe next time, sir."

"Geez." Bate groaned. "Stop being such a stiff, kid. We already have Burning for that one. No need to add yourself in that list. Call me by my name."

"Next time si… Bate."

Grinning, he patted him. "Atta boy. I'll be expecting you next time."

"Thank you, sir."

"No problem, Amuro. It's the job of older people to guide you," he said raising his glass with the other one reaching out to him. "To healing." Amuro found himself smiling with the man and ringing their glass together.

"To healing," he echoed and drank. He promptly turned going for his quarters.

* * *

_Amuro found himself floating on a vast blank milky space. The blinding world made his heart beat faster because all he could feel was her ruling presence. He stepped back__,__ but_ _Burning's word surfaced. So__,__ he pushed the urge to turn away and looked at the distance where he knew she was._

_"Amuro." _

_He shivered and whipped his head back and forth in every direction in search of the whisperer._

_"La… Lalah__,__" he said the name slowly after not using it in a long time. _

_O__n the horizon__,__ something shined__,__ something that outshined the world. It came with its gentle presence making him flinch when it caressed his vulnerable being. _

_"Amuro…"_

_Tightening his fist__,__ he pushed any doubts and breathed deeply. "Lalah! Stop this! Let me go!" For all the vastness of the place__,__ his voice echoed._ _The energy that made him shout in the first place__,__ plummet. "I'm sorry! Please. Believe me. I didn't mean to."_

_Why does she punish him so? Wasn't it enough that he was drowning in his own guilt!? He shivered from the cold comforting presence that washed over. He wanted to relish in it but pushed it away with all his might. _

_"Punish… no…" He paled at the familiar eyes suddenly staring right back at him. "Be free."_

"No!" He screamed turning his head everywhere only to meet the stark opposite of where he was before. Sweat slid down his face as he stared at nothing with only the whirring AC and Haro's curious flapping breaking the silence.

Soft palms caressed his arms in a hug that he can't but touch back before kissing the palm.

"Sorry I woke you," he whispered.

"No, don't be." Her breath that tickled his back made his hair erect from the chill. "Was it about her again."

There was no doubt about it in her voice but it was a question that she asked many times. Every time she asked about her, something ugly stirred in his chest.

"What was it about this time."

He could only curl his hands tightly as he closed his eyes.

"Please, tell me. Let me help you." Sayla's soft presence that brushed over him drew away the fears and dark thoughts that lingered.

So, he told her of the dream and no words were quickly uttered after that. He was content to remain to just hug her and continuously feel her relaxing presence.

"Amuro," she said. "Do you still… nevermind."

"What is it, Sayla."

"Do you still hate yourself, even after all that?"

Burying his face on her neck and relishing the touch, he breathed deeply while his thumb circled her palms. "Yes." Was his whispered reply. The action still stained his soul deeply that he wasn't sure he could forgive himself.

If Sayla wanted to, she could see the truth for herself but she didn't and was always patient to ask him about it instead. The ugly feeling of shame coiled in his chest for what he's subjecting her to. Mentioning someone he loved that he can't get over yet here she was, so patient and understanding of him. What was wrong with him!

"Why," she sensed her sadness dampening her mood further. "I thought—"

"But no more. I'll change. I'll heal. For you." He smiled at her.

He had subjected her to enough of his nightmares. He wasn't strong enough then but he'd be stronger. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow but he promised he would be. _Whatever it takes,_ he promised. He didn't know how long it would take, but for her, he would do it. Pulling her down with him, she laid on top of him now facing his chest.

He knocked the dream away, for now. There was no need for negativity tonight.

Slowly, he grinned as his hands went down caressing and feeling the smooth milky skin beneath the shirt. Sayla returned with her arms caressing his arms upward and snaking his arm around his neck whispering, "oh my, someone wants something tonight"

"What can I say, you're irresistible," he replied cheekily with a grin and surprising her with a kiss.

* * *

As they get nearer to their objective, the more he felt the chiller. His senses felt cold nearly making him shiver. It was not only him that felt this way though, Sayla felt this too based on how tight she closed off herself. Despite him doing this, he could still feel the cries of the dead whispering and singing insidious thoughts of vengeance and justice to him and Sayla.

Not only that, he felt colder from something. A sense of foreboding perhaps like when Zeon fired the colony laser?

"Captain, we've detected an IFF signal on Alpha . It's the Birmingham." Simone called. "Distance; 4000 klicks.

"The Birmingham?" The Helmsman said in surprise. "Near the shoal zone? What's it doing here of all places?"

"Yeah, what's the Inspection Flagship doing all the way out here?" Peter Scott asked.

The _Birmingham._ He had heard about it before. The largest Federation battleship with a length nearing 500 km—longer than any known ship aside from the Gwazine—with a width of 180 meters, and a height that towering over many ships with a height of 120 meters. The ship can carry approximately over thirty MS and heavily defended by numerous beam cannons, missiles, and anti-MS guns. It was the Federation's answer to Zeon's Gwazine capital ship and was leagues above the Magellan battleship, Albion and its Pegasus-class ship sisters in everything. It served as the flagship of the Federation.

It had a sister ship, the _Trafalgar_, that was rumored to be kept on Luna II—some said on Jaburo—and directly under the command of Admiral Revil himself. He had yet to see either ship and was excited to see one of them personally before the Naval review.

There was one question on his mind though; _what is it doing here of all places? _He raised his brow at the thought of what the Birmingham, a capital ship, was doing in around in a shoal zone in Lagrange 3 nearly bordering on the Solomon sea. It can be argued that it was going to Konpei Island, but there were many better paths to it than the shoal zone where pirates and Zeon can attack it.

"Read it."

"The autonomous fleet under the executive of Admiral Revil is to cease the search and rendezvous with the Birmingham on," Simone read the location, "on 0300 hours. Captain Synapse is then to board the ship. Vice-Admiral Kowen."

Vice-Admiral Kowen. No doubt Admiral Revil chose the man to be its Captain with how close they were. A wise choice too since he was not to pain in the ass and arrogant, unlike any other higher-ranked officer.

Harida whistled. "I heard the Admiral is in a hot spot by some on the top brass due to Unit 02's theft but I guess he has more pull if he was able to ask HQ to command a ship big as that."

"I heard it's something to do with the money used on the Gundam Project. Too expensive, my buddy from Jaburo told me," commented Scott. "The others in the admiralty board wanted to use it in mass-producing the GM Type C but was beaten by more than half of the board and went with the Gundam Development Project."

The GM was good but it was time they change it and he agreed that using prototypes from the Gundam Project would be a good start. Any new unit developed from it would bear good results.

"Whatever the case." Harida scoffed. "It's good that the big wigs atop are getting off their asses and doing something with the naval review."

"This review has been planned for months," Captain Synapse stated. "This is not only a show of force to the Zeon remnants but a way to show the recovered and reorganized space force we have. To raise the moral, so to speak."

"Hopefully that'll scare the Delaz from doing anything drastic," Chris commented.

"It won't." Amuro turned to a blank-faced Nina on their far left staring at space with her arms crossed. Behind those eyes, he could sense a strong emotion hidden behind many layers that he couldn't identify. She said something more but she muttered it only for herself to hear.

From what he knew of Gato, she was right about that. He was too overzealous for such a thing as a show of force to scare him. In fact, he thought that it would encourage him more!

The Captain cleared his throat silencing the others right away.

"That a bit far from our location," Burning commented. "But we can get there faster with time to spare if we increase speed."

"Indeed." The Captain agreed. "Level 2 Combat speed to all ships and have Monsha, Adel and, Bate on standby."

"Why do you think they want to meet up with us?" Sayla asked beside him holding his hand. Chris on the other side simply can't keep the smirk off her face. "Shut up, Chris." She glared at her with reddened cheeks as his.

He shrugged coolly. Or tried to with wit his face feeling all hot. "Whatever it is, it's gonna be important."

* * *

"Sir! Zanzibar II and four Musai II detected ahead! Sector 5-9-1." Harida cried. "It's on course with the Birmingham."

"All hands on deck!" Captain Synapse ordered. "Combat speed 1. Launch all Mobile suits! Order the other ship Beijing to launch two units and one for Manila to intercept and the rest on defense."

They all ran to their MS with the trio heading out first. Uraki launched before him and when he launched, he followed everyone which was led by Lt. Burning now.

"This Lt. Burning from Albion. Do you read me, Birmingham. Zeon fleet up ahead."

They waited for a response but all they got was silence and static.

"Damn it. The Minovsky's too dense."

"Alright," he barked. "I want teams of three or two. Half to intercept the Zeon fleet and the rest to defend the ship until the fleet arrives. Monsha, you three stay with Birmingham. Amuro, with me."

"Roger that." They all said.

The ship was somewhat far away and will take several minutes but they would reach it in time before the Zeons would. Best as they could, they traveled at speed at the GM Cannon II while weaving through the debris and making sure not to leave bulky MS behind.

Amuro knew that the Birmingham had an MS complement of thirty, but it was better safe than sorry since with a three-unit difference their forces were nearly halved. Plus, there's no telling if this fleet had the same strong armor as the one they faced before.

They could see the five blots on the sensors and on the horizon as they neared. He shared the grim determination the others had.

"This… Birmingham, hold… fire."

"What…," Keith replied confusedly.

"Hold your fire." The clear command of Admiral had him reluctantly let go of the pedal thus slowing his Gundam.

_Are they going to handle it on their own?_ Was his curious thought. They probably could with the Birmingham's possibly superior and better units, but the Zeon had upgraded their armor too.

"All units, circle the perimeter. Lt. Burning, Mass, and Ray, meet me aboard the ship."

Patrol? He didn't know what was going on but he knew it did involve the Zeon ahead.

He spoke but Chris cut him off. "Why is the Vice-Admiral ordering a ceasefire with Zeons nearby."

"They must want us to handle it while we search for hidden enemies," Bate commented.

"Could he be meeting with the Zeons? If my hunch is right, then maybe it's the same Zanzibar that attacked us," Chris said warily.

"Diplomatic envoy from Delaz?" Keith suggested unsurely.

Monsha laughed and scoffed. "Yeah. I'm sure they were thinking of that when Gato stole the Gundam. That'll be the day, ya moron."

"Cut the chatter. We got our orders, now get to it!" Lt. Burning ordered. "Mackenzie, I place Uraki and Keith under your command."

"Yes, sir."

When they neared the ship, he gaped at the ship glistening white as it reflects whatever sunlight it can in this place.

"Whoa," he gasped.

Just like that, he lost his breath. It was worthy of being called a flagship that much he could say. He counted possibly eight launch decks with a large hangar to match every single one of it. Oh, it's as the data said it was. The battleship's body was littered with numerous anti-MS guns, cannons—beam or not in varying size with the largest one on the side of the front hangar—, missile launchers that could blow their autonomous five-ship fleet with ease. The cost of building a ship this big must've cost the Federation a lot!

Amuro just realized how much he underestimated Admiral Revil in the reorganization of the Federation now that he saw the evidence in front of him instead of just rumors from others.

The ship was still launching their units when they approached it but he noticed that none were launched from the two fore hangars. Only from the side ones.

"This is Birmingham," an older man spoke. "Dock in hangar 2." Said hangar, the foremost one on the port side, glowed with lights and opened.

Following the order, they entered the hangar and it surprised how much GM's of varying units were in it. When they passed by the others, he could sense their astonishment behind the stares.

Amuro chuckled when he saw that the ship had extra space for his funnels.

All three of them were guided to the end of the hangar beside two unfamiliar Gundams where there was space. Like the Unit 01, both units were blue and white but the nearest had a disc radome, a long beam that was as tall as the MS located behind its shoulder, a beam cannon on its shoulders, a saber holster on its waist, and lastly it was equipped with a similar shield and long beam rifle the Zephyranthes.

The second one to its right had large shoulders thrusters and had lots of verniers all over its body and like the one after it, this one had a similar shield as well but had a different—yet shorter than the recon Gundam—long beam rifle.

_More GP Units as well?_ He thought while examining the units. _How many are there?_

They were greeted by a man with blue hair older man that had a rank of Lieutenant Commander. Amuro salute at the man just like his two companions. He didn't know why, but the man gave off a strange sensation. He didn't give any impression of being anything, but his mind was well mentally defended which was quite odd for someone not a Newtype.

The man smiled. "Lt. Commander Kajima. Follow me, the Vice-Admiral is now only waiting for Captain Synapse to arrive."

The halls of the ship were wider and bustling than the Albion. Everyone saluted them as they went. It was a surprise that a man older by few years had a higher rank than Lt. Burning. The man must've been an accomplished soldier during the One Year War.

"If you have any questions, ask them now."

"Why exactly are we being called." Glancing to his right, he saw Burning glance once at Lt. Commander Kajima.

"I can't answer that, all I can say is that it Vice-Admiral Kowen deemed it important to have you three, Lt. Burning."

"What about why the ship is in the Shoal zone."

"I can't answer that too, Lt. Mass."

"But it has something to do with the Zeon Fleet ahead." He didn't deny nor confirm Sayla's question but he could feel the confirmation from her.

Deciding to take a shot, he asked, "I assume that the two Gundams are GP Unit 03 and 04."

He turned to him slightly with a smirk. "Close Lt. Ray_._, but are the Unit 04 Gundam _Gerbera_ and Unit 05 Gundam _Primrose._"

"Why were the two units not brought to Earth to be tested?" he asked because it seemed inefficient to test the first two yet not the remaining three. That was if those two can be used on Earth's gravity. Looking at it, they did seem ground capable units.

"Where's Unit 03?" Sayla added. "Is it here too?"

"Unit 03 is still being finished. Primrose and Gerbera were not finished in time to be brought along to be tested."

He noted the odd way he answered with caution and vagueness regarding Unit 03. Part of him hoped that it wasn't another Physalis. One WMD equipped MS was enough for a lifetime and they didn't need it to be stolen to be used against them too.

"It's not another nuke equipped Gundam again is it?" He decided to ask.

He shook his head which relieved Amuro. "Fortunately no, but could be just as bad if used correctly."

They arrived at a door guarded minutes later. "Wait here until the Vice-Admiral arrives," Kajima stated and gestured for the soldiers to open the door.

The office was sparse of any personal things but they sat there waiting.

* * *

"That was my first time piloting a Mobile suit."

Amuro stifled his laugh. He thought he had it worse when he first piloted the Gundam.

"It's unbelievable, sir." Sayla chuckled.

The door hissed open and he stood and saluted immediately.

"Sorry for the wait," Admiral Kowen walked in followed by Captain Synapse. He tensed and drew his gun and beside him, he heard Sayla and Burning do the same as a black-haired woman in red Zeon uniform walked in bringing with her a cold presence.

"Stand down, you three," the Admiral scolded. "She's here for a purpose."

"Sir," he said looking between her, Admiral Kowen, and Captain Synapse. "Wha—what's the meaning of this!"

"All will be explained, Lt. Ray," said the Captain surely.

* * *

I hope you guys like it. R & R if you want. :)

And if anybody's curious, Unit 05 is actually a simplified Gundam Blossom. When the first one was destroyed in the testing after encountering Zeon forces, Anaheim retrieved the data and decided to build another one. They made a simplified version of the Blossom that focuses on one role like the rest of the Gundam Development Project units since the funds was big enough to build one more unit.


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you for the reader, to those who follow and favorited this humble story of mine. I hope you guys like this.

The last chapter update for possibly a month. Gotta update my other fic. lol. I busted my butt for this one to make it best as I can. Also, if I can help this story will be 10-ish chapters that's why the pacing is somewhat brisk. I'll do my best to not make this story more than 100k words.

I'll edit (for the many times) this in the future to correct the wrongs I've missed and maybe even fixed the pacing I found not that much satisfied with the result.

* * *

The cold feeling running through him didn't wane even after the briefing as he just sat there imagining the worst things that could happen. Cima Garahau smirked at him but he could sense that cold anger coursing through her being that was enough to make him and Sayla shiver. At whom, he didn't know, he didn't know but he suspected he was one of them.

He shifted and rubbed his fingers discreetly from the sensations bombarding him. He could tell that she told the truth and that the document given was real. All their efforts were in vain if Delaz's "Garden of Thorns" had already been emptied for Operation Stardust. If this true, _then what's next?_

Still, he narrowed his eyes at the woman. What was Cima's angle in approaching them? Was all this a trap or could he believed her intentions were genuine?

Those were questions for later. Right now, he was facing the most disturbing part. Delaz was an ingenious man to have thought of _Operation Stardust._ Why? For what even!? For a cause that they would sacrifice millions for? He shooked from his spot at the thought of thousands dying because of an ideology.

If it succeeded then the effects would be bad not only for people of Earth and the colonies. They needed to stop him now, but acting too soon without information would not only tip Delaz and Gato and change the plan making him more unpredictable. Also because Delaz gave them separate missions and only he himself knew Gato and Unit 02 was. All they knew was that Cima was to distract the Federation Fleet while someone was given the mission to hijack a colony somewhere. That time that Cima attacked them, Delaz was still in a rush to evacuate the base and sent his fleets to distract the Federation before they escaped. Cima was left to distract them more but here she was now in front of them declaring her betrayal of Delaz.

On the other hand, if this was true then they had the element of surprise on their side this time around unlike back in Torrington Base.

"Permission to speak Admiral," Lt. Burning said to which Admiral Kowen slowly nodded. "What if this is just a ruse? She attacked us before, after all."

"You don't trust me?" Cima laughed but a "dark" feeling rose from her. "I'm wounded, Lt. Burning. Didn't I say earlier we were ordered to distract the fleets circling the shoal zone while they evacuate the base? I came all the way here to deliver that information in exchange for my fleet's pardon and this is what I get?"

Burning glared at her and replied, "you did not even provide where and how Gato will fire the nuke."

"Like I said earlier," she said shrugging, "Delaz was secretive of his plan and only gave us the general outline. My only job was to delay your search while they have evacuated the Garden of Thorns as part of Phase 2. Who or where the colony hijacked is, is out of my hands. What's written there are the only things I can gather. I know you Feddies can do even better than me, but I sweeten the deal by thinking of possible ways they may enact their plan base on the information gathered."

"What about Kycilia?" Sayla asked picking up the document on the table on the middle. "What does she have to do in all of this."

Cima frowned and the cold sensation increased. She leaned back in her seat with a smirk returning on her face "Delaz may have said he has her blessings and act as a vanguard, but Delaz is the one that initiated Stardust before she contacted and supplied him. The two are at odds with each other. Delaz and Gato are Gihren loyalists and sees her as a usurper with her killing Gihren but for this they're working with each other hesitantly because they have the same goal. Maybe Kycilia hopes to kill two birds with one stone."

_To damage the Federation and kill her biggest political rival. _Was what Amuro concluded. Glancing at Sayla, he expected any kind of reaction, but he sensed nothing. Only questions that remained unvoiced.

"What did she supply Delaz with?"

"That too, my Sayla." With a snap, she closed her fan making her neutral expression clear. "You'll have to figure out on your own. Delaz kept that tightly not even his loyal dog knows, Lt." Despite her singsonging Captain Synapse's rank, her actions only showed her seriousness. Narrowing her eyes, she looked at Admiral Kowen directly at the eye. "Though, what I gather is that Axis sent new units and supplies and spread them across scattered remnant bases gradually that it went past your security and will act when the time is right."

"Like those Gelgoogs our fleet faced." The Captain's gaze darkened.

_This is bad._ He wanted to clench his fist but not in front of the Vice-Admiral.

If it was anything like those, then their forces would no match since their mainstay was the Type C armed with only machine guns with fewer using the beam spray gun. What if it went further than that and Zeon finished their incomplete projects during the war?

"Oh, that? That was just the tip of the iceberg to try and appease me. The secret lies in its armor. Aside from being tough, it is lighter than the original and increased the Gelgoog's mobility. Wanna know what it is called aside from _Axium Alpha?_" Her haughty and condescending eyes went each at each of them as she leaned forward before answering. "Scientists from Axis called it, _Gundarium Beta._"

He froze but his eyes went to his CO's who gave the same look like him. That meant… that Zeon managed to exactly copy one of the things that gave the Gundam's advantage. That would explain its invulnerability to bullets! It was Luna Titanium Alloy!

"The－units with this armor are given to the remnants?"

"For the most part," she replied easily then shrugging before looking at her watch. "I would like to extend this meeting, but duty calls before the fool Delaz searches for me. I'll have more data to send when our pardons are assured."

Vice-Admiral Kowen stood and took her hand. "Thank you for this, Miss Cima. You have given us vital information in stopping another war. I'll make sure to personally give your wishes to Admiral Revil himself."

"Good." She scoffed and turned. "I'd hate to work with traitors for a second time."

"You know what to do," the Vice-Admiral said to the guards who nodded.

When the door closed, Vice-Admiral Kowen returned to his desk with eyes on the folder Cima gave. "I know that you three may have questions for me, but I would like to ask if Cima was telling the truth about the information she gave or anything she said during the discussion."

Ah, now it makes sense. It wasn't spot on, but what Vice-Admiral Kowen was implying was one of the things the Newtype Scientists concluded. He trusted his "guts," so to speak, in knowing a lie from the truth. Others may have deemed it as _Newtype powers_ but it just suddenly came naturally to him and thought no different of it and more like good observational skills. He'd like to think it was because of his maturity rather than what people thought he became.

That wasn't simply an easy question to answer. He could sense genuine desire anger from her and also truths since he detected her smug enjoyment when she gave away the Delaz's plans. That made him determined that indeed she was being truthful, but he couldn't know what was left unsaid. That was what worried him; that she may have left few vital things unsaid that could bite them in the end and that would be a betrayal and ruse he, or the others, would not see.

He breathed deeply and exhaled along with the air his worries and replaced it with calmness.

_How should I word it?_

"She was sir." He breathed deeply. "But do you really trust her? There could be a lot of things she didn't say. We could sense if someones' truthful somehow, but we can't answer what she left unsaid."

"I agree with Amuro and Lt. Burning, sir," Sayla added. "She was being truthful, but do you trust her? What if she's playing both sides."

Their superior officer cleared his throat and looked at them with a small smile. "Thank you for that honest assessment. Regardless of whether I trust her or not, we have no choice since she's the only lead we have about Stardust. I may not be like you two, but I got all my wisdom to fall back on and could tell she was genuine in her betrayal of Zeon. Regardless of whatever Zeon did to her, we should be thankful for small mercies given at times like these."

"Permission to speak freely sir?" When their superior officer nodded, Amuro continued. "Why are Sayla and I here then?

"I needed you two as my second voice with your abilities. A little part of me was curious and wanted to see if your _abilities _were really true_._"

"Do you have your answer, sir?"

Admiral Kowen smiled at him and nodded. "I have high expectations for you two."

It was his turn to calm Sayla down when hot anger rose in her. Amuro nodded at hearing that statement and released soothing and gentle. _No harm was done__, _he conveyed the feeling to her through their connection.

"Sir," Captain Synapse began. "We need a plan to counter this now. If Delaz achieves this then it will destabilize the Federation."

Something flickered in Vice-Admiral's mind but quickly as it appeared, it was also swift to fade.

The Admiral opened a secret compartment on his desk with a thin key and hid the document in it. "I know, Synapse. That's why I'll head first to Konpei and contact HQ for a Def Con 1 Assembly. In the meantime, the Autonomous fleet's objective has changed. With the Naval review nearing, your mission now is to patrol the Solomon sea and protect it any means necessary. Rest assured, you will not be alone in this endeavor for other fleets will join in as well."

"I trust that everything discussed here will not be spoken outside until further notice, is that clear." The man stood straight looking them all straight in the eye unwaveringly.

"Yes, sir." The three of them said back.

He nodded. "Good. Go to hanger 2, Units 04 and 05 are waiting to be transferred to the Albion for field testing and the supply fleet by now has arrived to resupply the fleet. If you have any questions ask Lt. Commander Kajima. Dismissed."

Captain Synapse ordered them to follow him and realized they were going to the hangar. "Good job, you two. I'm glad my faith in you two wasn't misplaced. Burning, I'll leave the job of assigning the two Gundam's pilots to you."

"Yes, sir."

Amuro met glance sent his by the Captain. He was the one that pushed for them to be on that meeting?

Sayla huffed quietly making Amuro brushed his hand with hers gaining her attention. He smiled at her and proceeded to entwine his hands.

"Thank you, sir," Amuro replied.

The captain nodded and on the way to the hangar turned right instead of left and the three of them went to the hangar where Lt. Cdr. Kajima was once again there waiting for them.

"You knew about the Admiral giving Unit 04 and 05, didn't you."

The mn cracked a small smile that was nearly a smirk. "I did Lt. Burning, but it was not my place to tell. So, let me formally introduce you to Gundam Unit 04 Gerbera and Gundam Unit 05 Primrose." He gestured to the two Gundams behind them.

"Sayla, I'm reassigning you to Unit 04. I'll reassign Monsha to your Pixie and have Adel pilot Unit 05," he decided quickly without a moment's pause. "Any problems."

"Are you sure, Lt. Burning?" Sayla turned to the older man. "Why not pilot it yourself?"

Her question was met with an amused scoff. "I could, but I know you would put it to better use than I would."

Burning contacted the two and several minutes later, they arrive.

"Burning! What's the big deal calling us here." A scowling Monsha approached them with Adel behind him. Adel looked at the two new Gundams and back to Burning.

Burning laughed instead of berating him for that unprofessional attitude. "Relax Monsha. It's good news."

Monsha crossed his arms and huffed. "It better be."

"I'm reassigning Sayla to the Gundam Unit 04, Adel to Unit 05 and you're in the Pixie."

"Figures I'll get a second-hand unit," he said bitterly with a scoff.

Adel then replied with certainty. "I figured you would. No reason for you to call us here after all."

"I figured you'd be happy with that news, Monsha. Weren't you always saying you can beat Gato if only you have a Gundam?" Burning patted his friend's back while smirking. "A Gundam's still a Gundam, you know. It's better than nothing Monsha." Monsha glared at his friend which only cause him to smile. "That's the spirit! C'mon, try your new Gundams."

The three of them went to their new units and heard Adel mutter to Monsha, "at least Bate would be jealous of the two of us."

"Heh, can't wait for that bastard's reaction seeing us pilot Gundams."

"Why are two Gundam's assigned to the Albion? Wouldn't it be better if the Birmingham have it since it's a Flagship?" He asked Lt. Cdr. Kajima who stood next to him while they observed the three test their new units.

"This thing can detect the Albion even at this range!" Spoke a very surprised Adel.

"Those units were originally assigned to the Albion after testing of Unit 01 and 02 were done to take part on the Naval review but Unit 02's theft complicated things."

He flinched. Everything had to come back to his blunder. If only he didn't screw that up then the whole thing wouldn't happen.

They watched for minutes the three do basic movements on their unit to get used to it.

"Yosh!" Monsha excitedly said through the speakers. "This'll do. Gato won't know what hit him."

Amuro shook his head in amusement. A minute he was grumbling but now he was happy but was now okay receiving a "hand me down" Mobile suit.

The worry of Amuro resurfaced and doubled. Would this be enough to face whatever Delaz has in store for them? With the Zeon units having Luna Titanium, it meant reducing their weight. It would be dangerous for a new unit, even just a Gelgoog from what they've seen, to possess it.

_What if they created more of that MA? _The thought made him shiver. A lone unit was bad enough, but produced in numbers?

"You three," Lt. Burning called him. "Everything all green?"

"Yeah. The reaction time and range of this thing's amazing." Adel said still in awe. "This panoramic cockpit is something else. I can see everything without a problem."

They installed a panoramic cockpit to the Primrose instead of the linear one? That made Amuro stop and blink in surprise. Maybe they were testing the effectiveness of it in Recon MS.

"All okay, sir." The Gundam Unit 04 waved.

After a few minutes, they left the Birmingham to meet with their forces. As they traveled, Sayla's enthusiasm rippled and he could tell she wanted to test it out further. So, he contacted her. "How's it handling Sayla?"

"It's amazing. No wonder you like piloting your Gundam. It's as Adel said, this cockpit is amazing. You can see everything and still feel the speed."

Well, it's one of the reasons he liked the full view cockpit concept.

"Right?" Chris said happily. "The first time I tested the Alex it made me dizzy but I got used to it and eventually like the feeling being in it."

"I envy you two for experiencing this and didn't tell me what it feels." He smiled at Sayla's complaint.

"I didn't know that there were more Gundams," Kou said obviously awed by the two Gundams. "If Unit 04 and 05 have a panoramic cockpit, why didn't they install in it Unit 01 and 02 too?"

"Lack of funds?" Keith suggested.

"Highly unlikely." Bate scoffed. "They're still testing it these two units. Unit 01 has adaptability, Unit 04 is testing the panoramic cockpit's effectiveness in high-speed units and 05 is a recon unit."

"Could be," Chris answered. "But why put it on two units only when they could test it on all five Gundams?"

"Beats me," the blond replied coolly. "Ask Nina. She's the mother of the first two units. It's likely to do with ever Gundam has a single purpose so the cockpit didn't matter in the end."

"I wonder what Unit 03 looks like," Kou asked.

_Or more importantly_, _what is it's intended function_, Amuro thought since each of the Gundam Development Project Gundams has a purpose in mind. He remembered Kajima's reaction to Sayla's question._ Zephyranthes is a General Purpose Mobile suit. Physalis is heavy assault if you count its MLRS weapon. Gerbera is a high-Speed Intercept Unit__,__ and Primrose is Long Range Suppor MS with recon capabilities._

"If I have known there were more I could have requested to pilot a Gundam myself!" Keith whined. "No fair. Everyone gets a Gundam but not me."

"Keith," Burning called. "Are you forgetting one of my lessons?"

"N—no sir!" He responded. "Lesson no. 1: It's the pilot that makes the difference. Not the Mobile Suit."

"Good. Here I was thinking you need more training"

"Heh, you pilot a Gundam, twerp?" Monsha said derisively with a scoff. "You can't aim steadily and you want to pilot one of these bad boys!?"

"Hey, not like you deserve it too, Monsha. You were defeated by Amuro." Bate laughed and followed by Burning and Adel.

"He got lucky, I tell you," Monsha grumbled. "Let the pipsqueak try with me on this baby. And speak for yourself! The greenhorn defeated you."

"Have pride in your unit Keith," Adel said. "GM's can still kick ass if your good with it. How do you suppose we survived the war with Zeon using Doms and Gelgoogs."

"Exactly," Amuro commented thinking of all the pilots he faced during the war. "Even those who piloted the basic GM defeated others with superior MS."

"Lt. Mass," Adel said.

"You can call me Sayla if you want."

"Sayla," Adel said this time. "How does yours handle?"

"Like a charm." She spun and activated all her verniers balancing the Gundam faster than she usually did. "The money spent on the Gundam Development Project was not wasted."

"Agreed," Adel replied. "This one's slower than Unit 01 and 04 but the range it can detect units is incredible! I can detect our fleet and from this distance. Maybe the beam rifle or cannon can also reach that far."

"Heh! I don't need no new unit to defeat Gato!" Monsha said. "This is enough for me."

"Calm down everyone. We'll field test the unit's speed and mobility now. The others can test their units against it if they want to." Burning had Kou radiating with excitement and Amuro supposed that he should participate too if he wanted to test his unit against the GP Units.

Augusta Labs' _Pinnacle Project _vs Anaheim Electronic's _Gundam Development Project. _

If he knew Burning from the short time they knew each other, it was that the man had a playful side too if the situation doesn't call for him to be serious. So, this "testing" was just a load of bull.

They all lined up and from the distance, they saw their fleet. "Albion, this is Burning, over. We're testing the new Gundam's mobility so warn them from firing at us."

"Okay," he said after his word was received. "Timers ready?" They all confirmed it. "Three, two, one, go!"

Amuro blasted his thrusters dodging debris along the way a little just behind the Pixie. He could probably go pass Monsha, Chris, and Adel but he needed to see for himself what the other two can do first. He watched Monsha try to chase Unit 01 and 03 but to no avail despite his expert maneuvering on the space debris and rocks.

Behind him, Burning and Keith struggled to chase after them. Deciding that he had seen enough, he dashed past Pixie, 08th and Unit 04 with the aid of his funnels' thrusters unlike in Earth where the Pixie beat him in speed and mobility because it was lighter than his Netix. Space was his Gundam was made for.

"What the!" Someone said in shock.

His thrusters on full burst, he shot through and maneuvered at everything in his way. At maximum speed, still, he was behind the two by a somewhat large margin. The speed of the two surprised him for a moment before putting everything into thrust and still not catching up.

By the time he caught up with them they were already docking on the ship and he could feel the smugness of Sayla and excitement of Uraki radiating.

"Guess that Gundam's just not for show, huh. Couldn't catch up even at all," he said to a smirking Sayla upon disembarking. "How was it?"

"It's a fine Mobile suit. The control is finer than the Pixie."

"Is it so fine that I'll have a hard time piloting it?" Chris asked approaching them. "I can barely keep up with you three."

"Oh yeah, you can," she said. "It's not as sensitive as Amuro's."

"Well, if you have a hard time, then how much more for me." Bate approached them smirking. "You four were beasts. My Custom could barely keep up. Let's see Zeon attack us this time."

"Yeah," Keith said nodding. "No kidding. I don't think they can keep up with two fast Gundams on our side."

* * *

"What did the Admiral talk about?"

After that stressing talk with Cima, he didn't oppose to the trio's invitation for a drink. Not that he needed a drink after every situation like that, but it's better if he was with others than to be alone at this time. He needed a good distraction from it now by talking to others than to let it linger while doing something else alone.

"You know we're not allowed to talk about it Monsha."

Monsha's eye narrowed at Burning and huffed as drank. "Gag order, huh. Figures."

"I bet that it has something to do with that Zeon Fleet that just suddenly retreated." He didn't deny nor confirm Adel's statement.

"Got that right. Something's going on and it's unlikely HQ is gonna spill the beans on this one." Bate nodded. "Didn't even tell us there were three more Gundams and gave the new Gundams to you two." He gave the two certain pilots a side glance.

"Hey don't blame them," Chris said. "They didn't even know it was going to be assigned to the Albion."

"What can you tell us then?" Adel asked calmly leaning at the couch arms spread wide behind his two friends.

He glanced at the other three in front of him as he drank then to Chris who sat to his right. She was curious as the trio was and he could tell from her glance alone that she was holding her question back.

He wished he could tell them all about it. The dangers of what Zeon was about to do! But he understood the dangers of leaks and

Burning gave them a single glance before drinking. "Still, those two Gundams are something else though."

"Yeah." Bate scoffed. "It's a shame there's no unit left for us, huh."

"Not exactly." The others looked at him aside from the two that were with him during that time. "There's still Unit 03. Commander Kajima didn't say anything about it, only it was something dangerous."

"Just how many Gundams did Anaheim make?" Adel asked leaning idly on the couch looking curious on the middle of Monsha and Bate. "I can only imagine how much was spent on each unit."

"Probably a million for each unit," Monsha speculated after taking a large swig from his mug. "The Federation has the balls to make that but not mass produce the GM Custom instead of that Crap Type.

"Something dangerous, huh," Bate, gaining an amused expression and excited gleam in his eyes then said. "That sounds like something made for me."

"You wish," Chris chuckled and crossed her arms which Bate just took in stride by drinking. "Burning's gonna get that before you do."

The three in front of him laughed.

"Hah!" It was Bate's turn to scoff this time. "Can your body still handle the speed, Burning?"

Burning grinned. "I haven't just been sitting my ass off and training my team. If Amuro can beat you two, then this old man can still kick the ass of you three."

"That was a fluke!" Monsha roared slamming the bottle on the table. Grinning, he leaned forward that Amuro scrunched his nose from his beer breath. "If the pipsqueak wants, maybe we could try again, eh. Three vs three this time."

"Save that for later Monsha." Burning laughed patting him on the shoulder pushing him back to his seat. "Don't forget my team. Keith may be anxious and Uraki can be a little hotheaded but I've no doubt of their skills."

"Bah!" Monsha waved the words away. "Keith can't even hit well."

Sayla took his other arm and entwined it with hers and leaned more on him. Her amusement echoed to him. "Maybe not now, but give them time and I can bet that he can surpass you."

"Surpass me?" The man pointed to himself and bellowed. "That'll be the day."

Bate smirked in amusement, his silent thoughts broadcast clearly by his silent disbelief, unlike Adel who felt great pride. For what reason? He had an idea as to why.

"Then what about after this whole shebang. All nine of us will have combat training to see once and for all. Loser pays the winning team a hundred dollars!"

Sayla glanced at Monsha then to Chris with a small smirk gracing her lips. Chris returned said expression and nodded a little. "We'll take you on that offer, Monsha," she said.

"Be sure to swallow your pride and admit defeat this time."

"Oi, oi, Mackenzie," the blonde man said to his redhead friend. "Don't be so sure of your victory or you'll jinx yourselves."

"We'll see then." Burning raised a glass. The gentle clank of their glass for a second overtook the music of the lounge. Amuro frowned when behind that smile, was a shadow of a doubt. A doubt of what? He had not the slightest idea.

After hours of drinking with many drinks and joyful laughter, their little downtime had to end. They drank as much, but none of them were drunk. Well, maybe for Monsha who was supported by a very hesitant Bate. Sayla was just tired and fell asleep first, much to Chris' amusement.

"I should just leave him on the floor," he groused. "That's what he gets for drinking too much."

"Heh, I can just imagine him waking up with a hangover on the floor."

"Just help me carry him, Adel."

"I know you can carry him just fine."

He glared at his friend making him smirk. "Fine, fine."

They all went the opposite with the four's quarters on the other side of the ship.

"Do you think after this we can request a shore leave?" he suddenly asked. When they stopped Gato and Delaz, he needed time away to just breathe fresh air. Plus, it was nearly the time of the year for his visit.

"I think HQ will at least give us that. For all this mess that we're in, it's their fault for building that thing in the first place."

"Yeah." He nodded to Chris. What the hell were they thinking when they made Unit 02?

When they turned, Chris bid them goodnight going. Gently, he laid Sayla on his bed careful and fell asleep then.

Sometime later, he woke up and lay there with Sayla with a throbbing head that refused to calm down like his thoughts. Nothing but Cima's information filled his head.

"Are you still thinking about that?" Sayla looked at him frowning. "Or is it about her."

For once he was thankful her presence was not circling him. He hadn't dreamed of her since his talk with Burning. Maybe it's because his worries overtook it or he had one drink too many.

"Stardust," he began. "I keep thinking about what would happen if it succeeded." It would only serve to tighten the hold of the Federation on the colonies making the colonists resent them more.

The tense relations between the Federation and Colonies could also only increase. It doesn't end there, racism between those from Earth and Space would only multiply too with the wariness of each other. From the perceived tighter authoritarianism of the Federation with the threat of nuke hanging above them and paranoia that the remnant would pull another extreme move like it again. It would not do well to heal the connection that was severed during the One Year War.

Soft delicate fingers slowly slid from his abdomen going up until it caressed his jaw. Every touch tingled and gave him warmth that drove the darkness from his mind. "Hey, don't worry about it. We're gonna be there to stop Gato and Delaz from completing their plans. Plus, I trust Admiral Revil will do his best to stop it."

"I know that, but I can't help but worry."

"Me too," she said frowning. "Don't let it bother you too much. It'll do you no good to keep thinking about it."

"What if—"

A finger to his lips stopped him. "Shh," he shushed him silent. "Don't overthink it. We'll stop this."

Looking at her sure eyes, his worry faded as he then breathed deeply. "You're right."

"We have to believe so," she whispered pecking his cheeks heating it up more.

* * *

Their journey to Konpei Island was fortunately uneventful and their patrol found nothing out of the ordinary to which he was thankful for. The uneventful time was spent on training to make Sayla, Adel, and Monsha get used to their new units along with improving the piloting skills of Uraki and Keith.

The only eventful thing that happened was that another Supply Fleet arriving now, so here he was on the catwalk with Chris. Sayla, Adel, and Monsha was still training and patroling for anything as they resupply. The last one only brought the supplies they needed to repair the MS and ships along with rations. Well, if they count Keith and Mora hooking up and Uraki and Nina now nearly dating, then that would make three eventful events that broke the normalcy of the patrol.

Though uneventful as it was, the dread slowly filled within him filled itself as the days to the Naval Review drew close. _Only two more days left. _Yet the Delaz Fleet, nor any other sign of Zeon, was not yet found and this was making him worry.

"Do you think they'll give us better units?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. That'll be good if they did."

He didn't know why, but this entire thing gave him a bad feeling so a little reinforcement would be good in case things went south. It was not just the meeting with Cima that gave him that, it was also what she said. Kycilia supplied the Zeon remnants with something even she didn't know. Most likely it was weapons but the question was; _what weapons?_

Would it be as deadly as the Elmeth and Big Zam? Or something to supply the hidden remnants like a Gelgoog II or something. He could only guess what weapon Zeon could unleash.

"Alright! We've got mail for you!" One of the officers shouted. The crew hollered in joy.

"Do you some mail for you, Chris?" He knew he didn't have one. There were only two people out there that would and one was in rehab, while the other had forgotten or hated his existence.

She hummed. "Well," she said before shrugging. "I don't know. Bernie doesn't know I'm in the Albion, so he maybe he must've sent his to Cheyenne when I didn't reply to any of his contacts. Mom and dad doesn't send me since they think it's bad luck."

"Monsha!" screamed Mora below them glaring everywhere, and her body tense in fury followed by a panicking Keith. The men and women around her made way and doing their best to look innocent and ignore her. "Keith, I'm going to get you later for giving it away."

"I'm telling you, I gave it all to Kou!" Keith pleaded to a scowling Mora marching around the hangar.

"What's wrong?" Chris asked the woman.

"That pervert! He took some pictures of Nina!"

Amuro shouldn't have been surprised, he chuckled shaking his head. At least he gets to see Mora beat the shit out of Monsha again. The first one was a good show.

"Why I oughta," she glared looking all around. "I'll get him once he returns from his patrol."

"What's going on?" Uraki, carrying lots of books, approached the tall woman and asked.

Mora was quick to spin and hold Uraki by his collar and shook him. "Uraki! Where did you keep the pictures?"

He shook his head. "I shredded it."

"You liar!"

"Mora—"

"Nina! Don't you defe—"

She giggled while picking up the fallen books. "I think that if he's still reading this, then I think it means it he's telling the truth." Nina showed him some books that had Mora laughing. He wondered what books were that?

"Key to Woman's heart, The ABC's of Women, The Female Spacenoid." He heard Nina read the title and he couldn't help but chuckle along with Chris at Kou's topic. Not that he mocked the man but he just found it funny.

Chris chuckled calling down to them smirking. "If you want advice to women's heart, you can always ask Amuro! He knows women like the back of his hand."

"Don't listen to her, Kou. She's joking." He turned to glare at her. He didn't even know the first thing about women. If he was to tell anyone how he and Sayla became together they would just laugh at him.

"I agree. Amuro could give you good advice." The tall woman nodded sagely. "You should listen to him Uraki. He knows what he's doing"

"You're not supposed to agree with her, Mora!" he said narrowing his at her and ignoring his heated cheeks.

"What're you reading, man," Keith whined shaking his head. "You could've come to me if you wanted advice!"

"Uraki! Keith! With me! We're relieving the patrol team. You can gossip all you want later." Lt. Burning approached them and barked his orders. "Amuro, Chris be on standby by 1200."

They both saluted and the three went to their units. That was still a few hours away, they still had time to do rest.

The rest of their time they spent half of it talking and observing the supply delivery then finding out it was the experimental E-Pac Beam Rifles leftover from the project for their units. The other half, playing card games with Bate who invited them. He found out just how good the man was in poker and other card games. Better than Chris, he found out the hard way when he lost lots of money to him.

* * *

"Alright, everyone," Captain Synapse began breaking the silence of the briefing. The total anxiety of everyone had him shivering and closing his mind. He knew it came from them knowing something was amiss but was not told of. Captain Synapse was tight-lipped about it when confronted by others. "We've got intel that the Naval Review will be attacked by remnants today. Even with the amassed forces here, we cannot allow that."

Murmurs all around rose but were silenced with a simple gesture of the Captain. "Our job is to be the first line of defense."

The other captains showed from the monitor nodded.

"HQ has assigned us north of Konpei and we'll be covering Sectors F1 to 15. We will divide our fleet into three groups. Manila and Dodoma will be will take sectors 1 to 5, Astana and Freia will take the sectors 11 to 15 and Albion will take sector 6-10. If you see anything out of the ordinary, contact the Albion immediately. Netix, Unit 01, and 04 will act as reserves. Any questions."

This was it. The day of Stardust. Or was the real start of it. The rest of the ship was left in the dark regarding the truth about _Operation Stardust_, except for the Albion's pilot which suspected something going on, making him and Sayla feel bad for hiding something big as this from them. They hadn't heard nor was informed by Captain Synapse about any counter plan but he hoped that they really did have one for anything Zeon might throw at them.

"Any intel about what we're facing?" Adel asked.

"Nothing concrete as of this moment. As you've all experienced, Zeon may have improved their MS judging by the Gelgoogs we faced. Assume that all units faced will be the same. All teams are to exercise caution. Is that clear?"

Alarms blared before the Captain could reply. "Captain! Signal flare ahead. Distance; 5000. East and West fleet are reporting the same thing," came in Simone's panic statement.

They all ran for their units but Amuro could only watch as the others launched to do their assigned tasks. The Pixie had been repainted in grey hue just like the GM Custom per Monsha's support. Unit 04 on the other hand, was repainted in the original colors of the Pixie.

"Good luck out there, guys." He told all the pilots because with what they unknowingly have to face. They had the numbers, but would that be enough? He can't help but think no. "Don't die," he whispered.

"Thanks, kid," Adel replied.

Monsha scoffed and he could just imagine the man's arrogant smirk. "We don't need luck, shortie. We got this. It looks like you don't have faith in us."

He laughed. "A little prayer goes a long way, Monsha."

"Thanks, Lt...Amuro, sir."

"Keith! On the double!"

"Don't worry, we got this." Chris tried to reassure him but it didn't blow away his worries because she didn't know what this day was going to be. Only what she thought it would be.

One by one they all launched until it was only Sayla, Uraki, and him. The crew all around hustled in preparation for any damage suits while doing final checks on their units.

"Lt. Ray, Mass," Kou called. "What's really going on."

Sayla let her worries be known and he hid his from hers. Both of their thoughts tangled and pulled each other as they silently argued on whether to tell the truth or not. In the end, Sayla reminded him of what the Vice-Admiral said yet relented in telling the truth. He could trust Uraki, he was sure of it.

"Open channel 210.69." He sighed.

If no one knew that he told someone outside of the assigned people, it'd be better. He hoped no one noticed what he did. Plus, it was the day of the operation, he can justify it that if no leak happened because it was during that time. "Sayla and I will explain it best as we can."

When Kou already did as he asked, he began. "In truth, _Operation Stardust _is…" He told them what they had learned from their meeting with Cima, to Kou's wariness knowing who she was after an explanation, with Sayla telling some of the things he may have missed. With each word he told, the growing horror of Kou increased until they got to the endgame of Delaz.

"How could they! We…," he struggled to say. "We… don't they ever think that enough people had been killed?!"

"Kou relax." Sayla breathed deeply. "Jaburo has already been told of this and I'm sure they already made plans. Right, Amuro." A mental nudge from her made him agree just to calm down the hotheaded man.

"I knew there was something going on when the Admiral Kowen ordered us on a ceasefire at the fleet that attacked us on course with the Birmingham! They quickly turned around without firing. I assume it was because they were intimidated but to think that it was this instead."

None spoke for a while but what Kou felt was enough of a clue as to what he was going to say.

"Why weren't we told of this." He said finally breaking the silence.

"Zeon forces detected. Minovsky particle level rising." Simone said interrupting them.

"Damn it. Bridge, what's the situation." He clicked his tongue. "How many are there?"

"Approximately 100 MS incoming and unknown on the East and West Line with our communications broken. Our units are intercepting them now."

"Is Gato there!"

"Not yet. Unable to verify."

With the particles released it'd be harder to gain info from Konpei. That's not counting what type of MS was Zeon using or whether or not there was a Mobile Armor amidst their ranks.

"Calm down, Uraki," the Captain barked. "He will show himself eventually."

Kou gritted his teeth. "Yes, sir."

They can only wait in silence and anticipation for their turn to aid their allies. He can hear what was being said outside better than their static communication can and sensed all the varying emotions of everyone on the battlefield.

".… fast!" Keith said in distress.

From time to time the ship shook, but he could feel the Albion retaliate with all its weapons. He could only grip the control tightly in his impatience.

"Look out!"

Bate cursed and said something but the distorted communication cut it off.

"What was that!?"

"It's legless Zeon shit! Get your head together Keith," Monsha barked.

_It must be a new one then._

The comm beeped. "East and West of Konpei is under attack. Enemy numbers and composition unknown."

"I see a squad of Zudah. It's breaking through our forces!" Adel stated. Three ships already damaged. Chase them down, Monsha."

"Delaz is persistent in their attack," Sayla commented. "Gato will use the situation to get near to bomb most of the fleet."

He looked up when unsettling distress echoed in his mind along with a presence he wasn't aware of that made him shiver from its bloodlust and coldness. The presence pulsed excitedly like a bright cold light that burned the mind's eye. So different from the others around him. Closing his eyes, he ignored Sayla's presence and focused outwards gritting as he did so. The familiar hum of her name lingered but he pushed on seeing these presences. He could see their trails all over the battlefield bright as a star amidst the candlelight that flickered all around them. Did it mean what he thought it was?

"Sayla,—"

"I know."

"Do you think…"

She nodded. "Most likely." He clicked his tongue at that.

With haste, he contacted the bridge. "Bridge! Sitrep."

"Unknown units attacking Sector D, Q, P, and R. Casualties are rising! N Fleet is three ships down and ten MS destroyed. Z Fleet has two ships in critical condition and eight MS down." He hoped that it wasn't what he and Sayla thought it was. If it was, then they're in big trouble then.

"What!" Came Kou's reply. "It must be Gato! Send us out, captain."

"Send Netix and Unit 04 out!" Ordered the Captain. "Netix, assist the N Fleet and Unit 04 to Z. Uraki, remain on standby."

"Captain's right, Kou," Amuro told him. "If Unit 02 shows up, you're the only one who can catch up in that Full Armor." With that external armor with added verniers and propellant, it can reach any sector in a few minutes. "So, keep an eye out for him, will you?"

"Yes, sir!"

Guess they didn't need to convince the Captain to launch. When they were launched, he wasted no time and put everything into thrust. It was a little to the northeast, and while Z was east of Konpei. Despite his fastest, Sayla went passed him and both of them had their silent good luck.

Was it an Ace that attacked those two sectors? _Could it be__,__ Char?_ He tensed at that thought. He best be prepared for it.

As he went to his goal while dodging debris, the dark void was lit up everywhere. Simultaneous multiple explosions flared at the same time numerous fear, denial, and anger multiplied before disappearing like fireworks.

Was this all of the remnants? He could only hope so because it looked like that their current defensive forces weren't holding back Zeon despite their superior numbers. Their tenacity rained down the battlefield.

"...Look out!" Someone screamed but he was already on it and moved right then spun to face up beam rifle already aimed. His beam hit the chest while the bazooka missed. He didn't look back to know that the Dom exploded.

Angry determination rolled off of the Gelgoog that followed the GM now firing at him and grabbed its saber. It thrust its beam saber once in range of the pursued GM. He fired the wrist beam and hit its saber arm before it could swing and blowing the arm and the second shot blew the cockpit.

More MS came sweeping in but he fired his funnels and the GM with its bazooka easily helped in taking them out.

With a grunt, he boosted his MS up and proceeding to meet with the Zaku darting past it before turning and shooting its back. He raised his shield and sidestepped as a beam nearly hit him. From his left, three shots came for him and but swiftly Amuro hit its weapon arm, left leg and the chest.

"How many are there?" He muttered as he glanced for a second at his radar which fizzled with static and showed nothing and some things on the battlefield. His radar may not be clear, but what he saw was the opposite. Space lit up brightly as raged consume the field.

His eyes widened when a burning sensation hit him. It came ever closer. He went passed by a Salamis and turned beam rifle already aimed. The beam hit its targets which was dodging anti-air fire from a ship.

His senses rang loudly for him to move, and move he did. "Everyone! Move!"

By a hair's breadth, a yellow beam passed by him. Not only that, multiple explosion rocked the Salamis—including the MS surrounding it—for its bow, bridge, and engine were all simultaneously hit by something he didn't see but he could feel its presence somewhere. The presence that was near him was gone in a flash.

Spinning, he boosted down whilst facing upward with a shield covering his chest as a beam hit it. Many beams rained on him but none hit except for the beam that dissipated against his shield. Damn it, he had to be prudent in his use of shield against weapons like this.

He sidestepped left a little dodging three beams above, below, and right. The beams were relentless with their attacks but each time he evaded it. Wrist beam opening with arm going on different directions, he fired and clicked his tongue when it missed.

These bits was smaller, and accurate as his every shot he fired was, all missed or just barely grazed it. These were unlike the bits that he faced before with their speed.

His eyes roamed fast looking for the source. The unit these remote weapons belong to was nowhere to be found. If it was like her Mobile Armor, then it had to be around here somewhere for the bits to return to.

"It's fast." He spun letting loose beams at it only for it to flutter away followed by another barrage and popping in a new E-Pac.

A white thing darted around the now destroyed ship. It went by quick that he didn't see it nor could he aim at it, but he was sure it was a Mobile suit. Closing his eyes, his senses extended and he saw the trail left by the bits forming like a web trail. He can see her, he was definite that the pilot was a girl, zigzagging through the battlefield fast as Unit 01 and 04.

Abruptly, he opened his eyes and turned aside as a beam then passed him. Evade after evade and fire after fire he did, and their deadly dance swallowed enemies and allies with their swiftness. He let loose his own fin funnels and circled around the ship and dashed forward.

A GM went for him followed by a Gelgoog, he fired at it. The beam pierced the Zeon unit's head and chest. "Roll up and shield at eight o'clock!" He barked while he took the shot.

His ally shouted his question but otherwise followed, albeit reluctantly, did it stopping the attack above and barely dodging the multi-directional simultaneous attack with grazes everwhere.

"Run!"

He didn't turn to know if the GM heeded his order and instead turned rounding around a ship and asteroid while dodging the following remote weapons. He was right that he was the target because everything around was left alone. Turning, he sidestepped left and went up after firing as an explosion then occurred.

The funnels pulled back and briefly scanned its condition.

His senses flared and looked up. The white Kampfer headed straight for him followed by tiny white bits. It fired and he too retaliated with his wrist along with the funnels. The Kampfer dodged by rolling left and stopping the descent before the beam and spun.

Amuro drew his beam saber avoiding the beams along the way. The sabers sparked as they clashed, but then kick it, or tried to, only for the unit to reverse. Doing the same thing but raising his arms one o'clock and blasting at the offending bit.

Two more raced around him and few shots went towards it instead of him giving him the chance to shoot the others. He reversed letting a beam pass and he willed his funnels to fire. An explosion occurred in the beams line of fire.

_One more down._

From the Kampfer's pilot, shock vibrated but was quickly replaced by determination and excitement?

More bits flew out from behind the Kampfer as another went for him, the beams this time was nearer than he expected. Senses flaring, he folded his knees and fired up without looking and moved his funnels barely dodging the barrage that it was about suffered through. He gritted his teeth when the side of the body glowed red.

With gritted teeth, he turned the head and fired his vulcans at the funnel near one of the numerous fresh debris causing sparks then drawing saber deflecting a strike downward and kicking it away. Arms aimed at it, beams launched making it go left and right in evasion. It drew a rifle and aimed up.

He gasped then opened fire causing it to reverse. "Run! You can't take this alone!" He told the incoming GM's.

The only usable funnel left flew and spinning as it did so chasing the bits. Two beams penetrated its body and the GM pilots' presence faded just like those before in this bloody sea making him grip the controls tighter.

_How many did this MS kill before I arrived?!_

"A….ro."

Many beams once more fired at him, and cursed his feet got grazed but still, he didn't hesitate to dash forward spinning and slashed only to be blocked. He put forth his shield directly in front of the cockpit as a bright flash hit it sending him back.

Small dents formed on the shield, still, he raised it in defense only to let go and reversed when shots from everywhere hit it. The little white bits dashed to him firing.

"...m..o."

_Amuro._

He blinked and went pale at seeing a familiar form only for her to disappear a second later. "What!" His Gundam shook and the enemy in front of him. He quickly pushed it away aiming for

Hot vulcans bullets streak the space towards the remote weapons. At the same time beam came above swallowing two more. He willed it to the side and pulled it cursing when the tip of it bleed red on the status screen. Still, _better damaged than destroyed._

With a quick press of a button, the communications went silent.

He roared determinedly, with his voice echoing in the cockpit, in stopping this Newtype from passing through and killing more soldiers. He and the Kampfer met again. He raised his shield and moved his rifle up letting loose four shots before a bright light came there and disappeared.

The dents deepened and he reversing letting go of it just as the white MS swung its saber down and he fired with all his weapons.

It's right arm and waist exploded sending it floating back. With no time to lose, he rushed towards it, beam saber ready, spinning and deftly dodging the beams by a hair's breadth. Light all around him blinded him but he trusted his senses and cut upward. His computer beeped but he ignored it and put the foot forward as his Gundam vibrated from the impact. He pushed away with a kick.

The silence of his cockpit was broken by the opening of the helmet and somewhat heavy breaths he drew. His eyes briefly went to the status screen and clicked his tongue. Both funnel bodies glowed red—only thrust support left then— and his legs and shoulders a glaring near red hue.

Still, he can still fight unlike the armless MS before him that retreated. He must be cautious. It still had the remote weapons and just as he thought, attacks all from all over rained down.

The attack ended quickly fast as it began leaving him alone in the debris of his allies without the other Newtype MS in sight.

He breathed deeply letting the agony and regret wash off him unless he wants their souls mingled with his.

"Lt! Zeon… reakin－defense and heading… Sec-rs E-G, W-A…-S falling."

_Damn it! _They still had no idea where Gato would be! He had no other choice but to return to the ship, he thought gritting his teeth. He won't be able to help the sectors in needing immediate assistance.

For the umpteenth time, he breathed. Reluctant as he was, he turned back to Albion hoping that along the way he can help any allies.

* * *

I hoped you guys liked this. I did the best I could with the pacing, action, dialogue. If there were mistakes overlooked, then apologies. The disadvantages of being Beta-less. :p


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